Get unique info from a file 1

[4x4uk]

I am in the process of creating a logging script which store info in a flat text file in the following format

Date|IP|BrowserInfo|

I can count all the records in the file and output the info in readable form with the following script

<?php
$total=0;
$fcontents = file(&quot;logfile.txt&quot;,&quot;r&quot;);
while (list ($line_num, $line) = each ($fcontents)) {
$total=$total+1;
list($string1,$string2,$String3)=explode(&quot;|&quot;,$line);
echo 
&quot;<b>Date/Time: </b>&quot;,$string1,&quot;<br>&quot;,
&quot;<b>Remote Address: </b>&quot;,$string2,&quot;<br>&quot;,
&quot;<b>Browser/OS: </b>&quot;,$string3,&quot;<p>&quot;;
}
echo &quot;<p><b>Total Visitors = &quot;,$total,&quot;</b><br>\n&quot;;
?>

I was wondering how to count unique values only using IP address for example. I would also like to count browser types.

Anyone got any ideas?
Thanks
Ian It's not a lie if you believe it!

 

[sleipnir214]

Populate arrays, one for IP addresses, one for browsers.

For each entry, search your IP array for that address (array_search() might be useful:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.array-search.php).

If the address is not there, push it on to the end of the array. Do the same for browsers.

Keep in mind that every time you add an address to the list, array_search() will take longer. Given a sufficient number of addresses, your script will take longer to run than you PHP settings will allow.

One way to speed things up, if you have a large number of addresses, is to create two arrays for the IP addresses, one a 4-dimensional adjacency matrix (a 4d array), the other one a single-dimensional array. The 4d matrix will use each octet of the IP address as one axis, and to store a record for 1.2.3.4, you would set $ipsearch[1][2][3][4] = 1 and $iplist[] = "1.2.3.4". To search for the repeat of a particular address, you could then efficiently search each octet separately, making it faster to determine that an address has not already been added -- if the first octet of your address does not appear in the first axis of the search matrix, you know you've never seen the address before.

Once you've finished the list, you can then pull your unique addresses out of $iplist.


Another way might be to make use of a database server, such as MySQL or PostgreSQL. Database servers specialize in searches -- if your list is large, you could get a speed boost. Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

 

[skiflyer]

array_search is great, and by far the most robust solution, but if you simply want yes or no, in_array is the easiest to toss into an if then

if (!in_array($ip_found, $ip_array)) {
$ip_array[] = $ip_found;
}

-Rob

 

[4x4uk]

Thanks for the info.
I had thought about mySQL, I just never used it directly myself hence the reason I went for the textfile in the first place. But I'm all for making life easier in the long run so I guess its back to the books and manual again to learn how to use mySQL.

Regards
Ian It's not a lie if you believe it!

http://www.ne4x4.org.uk/

http://www.ne4x4.org.uk/Ian/

http://www.ne4x4.fsnet.co.uk/beck/

 

[sleipnir214]

As Martha Stewart would say, MySQL is a good thing.

It's also not hard to learn. Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

 

[CliveC]

Another approach would be to read your file daily and strip out the days records to a new file ccyymmdd.txt which need contain only the IP addresses and the browser info. Then this file could be read line for line into an associative array and sorted and processed first by IP address and then by browser details using the KSORT and/or ASORT functions and using the SORT-STRING feature.

This approach would stop your main file from growing and would provide a back-up of each days results.

Clive

http://tubularity.com

 

[4x4uk]

After giving myself a crash course in mySQL last night I think I'll make some mods to the script. You're right it's not too difficult to learn the basics It's not a lie if you believe it!

http://www.ne4x4.org.uk/

http://www.ne4x4.org.uk/Ian/

http://www.ne4x4.fsnet.co.uk/beck/