split content of a text file and export to new txt files

[maxjessop]

Hi, I have a .txt file with blocks of text separated by blank lines. I need to save each block into separate .txt files on the server.
I am a complete novice and so far only managed to load the .txt and echo it back. I've spent two days searching for examples but have come up blank, I think explode() into an array and then write the arrays to txt files is the way to go. Any help would be appreciated thanks.

[code green]

The php file() function will load each line of a file into an array.
That is a line ending with CR / LF (system dependent).
Loop through the array concatenating each element onto a string variable until you find an empty element.
You have block 1. Write it to a file
Then start another string variable.and continue looping through the array.

I could write example code but this is very easy.
And PHP file functions are simply excellent.

Well they are after years of writng C++ FIFO streams

[maxjessop]

The php file() function will load each line of a file into an array.
That is a line ending with CR / LF (system dependent).
Loop through the array concatenating each element onto a string variable until you find an empty element.
You have block 1. Write it to a file
Then start another string variable.and continue looping through the array.

I could write example code but this is very easy.
And PHP file functions are simply excellent.

Well they are after years of writng C++ FIFO streams

Well that does sound a lot simpler than all the pages of code i've looked.
I'll go and have a look at some file() tutorials now but if you have the time or energy I would be greatful of an example code?? or a hint.

Thank you

[maxjessop]

it maybe I've spent too long looking at code the last few days, I'm confused..

<?php
$file=file("menu4.txt", "r") or die('Could not read file!');
?>

this is as far as i've got and now i'm not sure if how to set up the loop. If you could right me an example that would be great and save my head from melting.

Thanks

[JDBurnZ]

Here we're going to use one of my favorite functions for this sort of thing: preg_replace. Now please not that the first field is an input for regular expressions, so be sure to keep the "/ and /" intact! Whether you enter \n\n or \r\r, it should look like "/\n\n/" or "/\r\r/".

<?php
 
$sourceFile = "fileWeWillRead.txt";
$targetFile = "fileWeWillWrite.txt";
 
$sourceFilehandle = fopen($sourceFile, "r"); // Read the file
$sourceFileContents = fread($sourceFilehandle, filesize($sourceFile)); // Store information to variable
fclose($sourceFilehandle); // Close file
 
// If a unix-based program created this file, you'll probably have to enter \r\r
// If a windows-based program created this file, you'll probably have to enter \n\n
// There is also a chance you'll have to enter in \n\r\n\r or \r\nrl\n too!
// If one doesn't work, try another!! :)
 
$targetFileContents = preg_replace("/\n\n/", "|", $sourceFileContents);
 
$targetFileHandle = fopen($targetFile, 'w'); // Open file or prepare to create it
fwrite($targetFileHandle, $targetFileContents); // Write to file
fclose($targetFileHandle); // Close file
 
print $targetFileContents;
 
?>

Using this code: Let's test the following:

Your sourceFile looks like this:

this is line 1
 
this is line 2
 
this is yet another line

After parsing that file through your PHP script, your targetFile should contain the following:

this is line 1|this is line 2|this is yet another line

I hope this helps you out! Any other questions, just contact me. :)