Parse columns from pure text into structured data based on the precise spacing of the header and the columns.

parseColumns.php

<?php
//To parse an example like the following categorized columns:
/*
  col1         col2  col3
  ====         ====  ====
  1 a b c d e  103   14 as d9
  2   a        103   14 as d9
  3   a        103   14 as d9
*/

$headings = array('col1','col2','col3');
$header = "col1         col2  col3";
//get the $heading_pos_list by parsing the headings of each column with 
list($heading_pos_list, $lengths) = parse_heading($headings, $header);
//Parse each line into a row structure
$start_position = $heading_pos_list[0][$heading_key];
$length_of_heading = $heading_pos_list[1][$heading_key];
$line = '1 a b c d e  103       14 as d9';
$row = parse_line($line, $headings, $start_position, $length_of_heading);
//this works for each column and line
echo $row('col1');
//output: 
//1 a b c d e
//continue on for each line.


/************* Functions Below **************/
/**
 * parse_heading
 * 
 * Get the position and length of each column name in $heading
 * if a column name is not in $line then remove it from $heading
 * 
 * @param array $heading 
 * List of column names to get info about from $line
 * Ex:  array("Logical Drive Name", "LUN", "Controller", "Accessible by", "Logical Drive status");
 * 
 * @param string $line 
 * The header for the columns
 * Ex:  "Logical Drive Name    LUN  Controller  Accessible by         Logical Drive status"
 * 
 * @param boolean $is_logging
 * Turn off log messages when a header is not found
 *
 * @return array $return_val
 * Multidimentional array containing the start position of each column and length
 * $return_val[0] = multi-element associative array  
 * Ex:  $return_val[0]['Controller']
 *      $return_val[0]['Accessible by']
 * $return_val[0] contains the starting position for each header
 * $heading_key is the column name that has been like 'CONTROLLER' above
 * Ex:  $return_val[0][$heading_key] = starting position of heading
 * $return_val[1] contains the length of each header
 * Ex:  $return_val[1][$heading_key] = length of heading including white space after it
 * 
 */
function parse_heading(&$heading, $line, $is_logging = TRUE) {

   //search $line to find each start position of $heading
   $start_pos=array();
   $lengthOf=array();
   $num_headings = count($heading);
   
   for ($i = 0; $i < $num_headings; $i++){
        $column_name = $heading[$i];
        $matches = array();
        $start = strpos($line, $column_name);
        if (preg_match("/^.*?$column_name\s*/", $line, $matches)){
            $end = strlen($matches[0]);
            if($start !== FALSE) {
               $start_pos[$column_name] = $start; 
               $lengthOf[$column_name] = $end-$start;
            }
        } else {
            $heading[$i] = NULL;
        if ($is_logging){
                echo "Alert: Heading '$column_name' was not found.\n";
        }
        }
   }
   
   //filter the elements of the array using the function strlen, 
   //if strlen returns 0 then the element is removed
   $heading = array_filter($heading, 'strlen');
   
   //return start positions and lengths 
   return(array($start_pos, $lengthOf));
}

/**
 * parse_line
 * 
 * Pull the data out of the line into an array of fields based on the 
 * start position and length of each column.
 * 
 * @param string $line
 * The input to be processed
 * 
 * @param array $heading 
 * The return value you get from the function parse_heading(...) used to determine 
 * where columns end and start for different columns on a line
 * Example: 
 * $start_position = $heading[0][$heading_key];
 * $length_of_heading = $heading[1][$heading_key];
 * 
 * @param array $start_pos
 * @param array $lengthOf
 * @return array
 */
function parse_line($line, $heading, $start_pos, $lengthOf) {
   foreach($heading as $field) {
      if (! isset($start_pos[$field])) {
         $arr[$field]="";
      } elseif ($lengthOf[$field] == 0) {
         $arr[$field]=trim(substr($line, $start_pos[$field]));
      } else {
         $arr[$field]=trim(substr($line, $start_pos[$field], $lengthOf[$field]));
      }
   }

   return($arr);
}