Comparing time in a text file

[newphpuser]

Hello Everyone, I have different entries in a log file in the form:

================================================[Jan 27 2012 12:10:35] - ID2PDF v.2.6 (ID2PDF.jsx)General options: [default] (ID2PDF_options.xml)================================================Loaded options from XML file: 'path/to/file/some_file.xmlextendedPrintPDF startedextendedPrintPDF: Error: Unsaved documents have no full name.; line: 332================================================[Jan 27 2012 12:12:57] - ID2PDF v.2.6 (ID2PDF.jsx)General options: [default] (ID2PDF_options.xml)================================================Error opening document: path/to/file/some_file1: Error: Either the file does not exist, you do not have permission, or the file may be in use byanother application; line: 190Error opening document: path/to/file/some_file2: Error: Either the file does not exist, you do not have permission, or the file may be in use byanother application; line: 190

I want to grab the time in the first line of the record (I can manage that with a RegEx, alright!) and then compare it with the time of the next entry (in this case, with Jan 27 12:12:57). And if the second time is greater than the first, I want to read the rest of the text file and do a bunch of other things.Is it possible to do this?NOTE: The entries may have records of any number of lines, but each entry is separated by the === delimiter.

Edited January 7, 2013 by newphpuser

[justsomeguy]

Separate the entries and get the timestamps with a regular expression if they are there. You can use strtotime to convert the text to a timestamp, and then do your comparison from there. http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.strtotime.php

[newphpuser]

Thanks! :)And what about the second part? If the second time is greater, continue reading the whole file and performing some actions. If not, just terminate. How should I go about that?

[justsomeguy]

"Terminate" may mean using exit, return, or break, depending on the rest of your code.

[newphpuser]

I mean, just exiting the program for then. But, how can I ask it to continue reading the remaining text file, but NOT read the part before the previous date & time? Like, in this case, if it finds Jan 27 2012 12:12:57, I want to force it to read the text STARTING from this record and forget the previous records, so as to avoid duplication-- which may occur if it reads older records.

[jeffman]

I would personally find a way to explode the file into an array of unique records. Walk through each element of the array. Check the date of each one. And so on.

[justsomeguy]

You can also use usort to sort your array of records by a custom criterion, in this case your timestamps.

[jeffman]

Totally. Build the regex right into that. Especially if you already have one that's working.