Columnize an Array with PHP

January 22, 2011
This function uses an array to output a table with the elements divided into columns. The test code and results are shown below.

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  1. <?PHP
  2. function columnize($data,$maxrows=10)
  3. 	{
  4. 	/*
  5. 	Columnize - Robert Lerner - 2011.01.13.21.23 - www.Robert-Lerner.com/columnize.php
  6.  
  7. 	Use:
  8. 	STRING = columnize(ARRAY[MIXED],INTEGER);
  9. 	Array may not be multidimensional.
  10. 	Sorts array elements into columns, data + <br />.
  11.  
  12. 	*/
  13. 	if (!is_array($data)) 
  14. 		{
  15. 		trigger_error("Data provided to columnize was not an array.",E_USER_ERROR);
  16. 		}
  17. 	if (!is_numeric($maxrows))
  18. 		{
  19. 		trigger_error("MaxRows provided to columnize was not numeric.",E_USER_ERROR);
  20. 		}
  21.  
  22. 	$ColumnID = 0;
  23. 	for ($DataCount=0;$DataCount<=count($data);$DataCount++)
  24. 		{
  25. 		if ($DataCount%$maxrows==0)
  26. 			{
  27. 			$ColumnID++;
  28. 			}
  29. 		$Col[$ColumnID] .= $data[$DataCount] . "<br />";
  30. 		}
  31. 	$RetVal = "<table><tr>";
  32. 	for ($i=1;$i<=$ColumnID;$i++)
  33. 		{
  34. 		$RetVal .= "<td valign='top'>" . $Col[$i] . "</td>";
  35. 		}
  36. 	$RetVal .= "</tr></table>";
  37. 	RETURN $RetVal;
  38. 	}


This example uses the function after generating an array with the following elements:
$arr[0] = 0;
$arr[1] = 1;
etc...

for ($i=0;$i<=49;$i++)
     {
     $arr[$i] = $i;
     }
echo columnize($arr,2);


Output

0
1
2
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5
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49



Changing the second parameter of columnize to 5, and then 10 below:

Output

0
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49



0
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48
49

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