Split Strings in Half (Word-Aware) with PHP

Question

I\'m trying to split strings in half, and it should not split in the middle of a word.

So far I came up with the following which is 99% working :

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Answer 1

function split_half($string, $center = 0.4) {
        $length2 = strlen($string) * $center;
        $tmp = explode(' ', $string);
        $index = 0; 
        $result = Array('', '');
        foreach($tmp as $word) {
            if(!$index && strlen($result[0]) > $length2) $index++;
            $result[$index] .= $word.' ';
        }
        return $result;
}

Demo: http://codepad.viper-7.com/I58gcI

Answer 2

Upon looking at your example output, I noticed all our examples are off, we're giving less to string1 if the middle of the string is inside a word rather then giving more.

For example the middle of The Quick : Brown Fox Jumped Over The Lazy / Dog is The Quick : Brown Fox Ju which is in the middle of a word, this first example gives string2 the split word; the bottom example gives string1 the split word.

Give less to string1 on split word

$text = "The Quick : Brown Fox Jumped Over The Lazy / Dog";

$middle = strrpos(substr($text, 0, floor(strlen($text) / 2)), ' ') + 1;

$string1 = substr($text, 0, $middle);  // "The Quick : Brown Fox "
$string2 = substr($text, $middle);  // "Jumped Over The Lazy / Dog"

Give more to string1 on split word

$text = "The Quick : Brown Fox Jumped Over The Lazy / Dog";

$splitstring1 = substr($text, 0, floor(strlen($text) / 2));
$splitstring2 = substr($text, floor(strlen($text) / 2));

if (substr($splitstring1, 0, -1) != ' ' AND substr($splitstring2, 0, 1) != ' ')
{
    $middle = strlen($splitstring1) + strpos($splitstring2, ' ') + 1;
}
else
{
    $middle = strrpos(substr($text, 0, floor(strlen($text) / 2)), ' ') + 1;    
}

$string1 = substr($text, 0, $middle);  // "The Quick : Brown Fox Jumped "
$string2 = substr($text, $middle);  // "Over The Lazy / Dog"

Answer 3

I know this is an old question, but I have the following piece of code that should do what is needed.

It by default it splits the string on the first occurrence of a space after the middle. If there are no spaces after the middle, it looks for the last space before the middle.

function trim_text($input) {
    $middle = ceil(strlen($input) / 2);
    $middle_space = strpos($input, " ", $middle - 1);

    if ($middle_space === false) {
        //there is no space later in the string, so get the last sapce before the middle
        $first_half = substr($input, 0, $middle);
        $middle_space = strpos($first_half, " ");
    }

    if ($middle_space === false) {
        //the whole string is one long word, split the text exactly in the middle
        $first_half = substr($input, 0, $middle);
        $second_half = substr($input, $middle);
    }
    else {
        $first_half = substr($input, 0, $middle_space);
        $second_half = substr($input, $middle_space);
    }
        return array(trim($first_half), trim($second_half));
}

These are examples:

Example 1:

"WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW"

Is split as

"WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW"

"WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW"

Example 2:

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW"

Is split as

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

"WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW"

Example 3:

"WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Is split as

"WWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWW"

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Example 4:

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Is split as

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Hope this can help someone out there :)

Answer 4

I was created a great solution, where we dont lost characters or Where the word is not cut wrongly.

function split_title_middle ( $title ) {
    $title = strip_tags( $title );
    $middle_length = floor( strlen( $title ) / 2 );
    $new_title = explode( '<br />', wordwrap( $title, $middle_length, '<br />') );
    if (isset( $new_title[2] ) ) {
        $new_title[1] .= ' ' . $new_title[2];
        unset( $new_title[2] );
    }

    return $new_title;
 }

// how to use
$title = split_title_middle( $title );
echo $title[0] . '<strong>' . $title[1] . '</strong>';

Answer 5

function split_half($string){
$result= array();
$text = explode(' ', $string);
$count = count($text);
$string1 = '';
$string2 = '';
if($count > 1){
    if($count % 2 == 0){
        $start = $count/2;
        $end = $count;
        for($i=0; $i<$start;$i++){
            $string1 .= $text[$i]." ";
        }
        for($j=$start; $j<$end;$j++){
            $string2 .= $text[$j]." ";
        }           
    $result[] = $string1;
    $result[] = $string2;
    }
    else{
        $start = round($count/2)-1;
        $end = $count;
        for($i=0; $i<$start;$i++){
            $string1 .= $text[$i]." ";
        }
        for($j=$start; $j<$end;$j++){
            $string2 .= $text[$j]." ";
        }           
    $result[] = $string1;
    $result[] = $string2;

    }
}
else{
    $result[] = $string;
}
return $result;
}

Use this function to split string into half words..

Answer 6

I tried using a couple of these answers but didn't get the best results so I thought I would share the solution. I wanted to split my titles in half and display one half white and one half green.

I ended up combining word count, the length of the text, the half way point and a third of the string. This allowed me to make sure the white section is going to be somewhere between the third way/half way mark.

I hope it helps someone. Be aware in my code -,& etc would be considered a word - it didn't cause me issues in my testing but I will update this if I find its not working as I hope.

public function splitTitle($text){

    $words = explode(" ",$text);
    $strlen = strlen($text);
    $halfwaymark = ceil($strlen/2);
    $thirdwaymark = ceil($strlen/3);

    $wordcount = sizeof($words);
    $halfwords = ceil($wordcount/2);
    $thirdwords = ceil($wordcount/3);

    $string1 ='';
    $wordstep = 0;
    $wordlength = 0;


    while(($wordlength < $wordcount && $wordstep < $halfwords) || $wordlength < $thirdwaymark){
        $string1 .= $words[$wordstep].' ';
        $wordlength = strlen($string1);
        $wordstep++;
    }

    $string2 ='';
    $skipspace = 0;
    while(($wordstep < $wordcount)){
        if($skipspace==0) {
            $string2 .= $words[$wordstep];
        } else {
            $string2 .= ' '.$words[$wordstep];
        }
        $skipspace=1;
        $wordstep++;
    }

    echo $string1.' <span class="highlight">'.$string2.'</span>';

}