I have a "location" field in my database and I would like to output only a portion of that field (the part before a "-".

I have a "location" field in my database and I would like to output only a portion of that field. The format is "City","State" - "other information" I would like to only output the portion of the field to the left of the "-" (only city and state not the other information. )

Here is the code I am currently using...

<a href="https://www.priceline.com/stay/#/search/hotels/<?php echo($row_WADAallshows2['location']); ?>/<?php echo(($row_WADAallshows2['showbegin'] && date('Ymd',strtotime($row_WADAallshows2['showbegin'])) != "11/30/-0001")?date('Ymd',strtotime($row_WADAallshows2['showbegin'])):''); ?>/<?php echo(($row_WADAallshows2['showend'] && date('Ymd',strtotime($row_WADAallshows2['showend'])) != "11/30/-0001")?date('Ymd',strtotime($row_WADAallshows2['showend'])):''); ?>/1?searchType=CITY&page=1" target="_blank"><strong>(Hotels)</strong></a>

"I only want to output the City & State to Priceline"

You can use substr() and strpos() to show only the data to the left of a certain character... so it might look something like:

<?php echo(substr($row_WADAallshows2['location'],0,strpos($row_WADAallshows2['showbegin'],"-")); ?>

<a href="https://www.priceline.com/stay/#/search/hotels/<?php echo(substr($row_WADAallshows2['location'],0,strpos($row_WADAallshows2['showbegin'],"-")&& date('Ymd',strtotime($row_WADAallshows2['showbegin'])) != "11/30/-0001")?date('Ymd',strtotime($row_WADAallshows2['showbegin'])):''); ?>/<?php echo(($row_WADAallshows2['showend'] && date('Ymd',strtotime($row_WADAallshows2['showend'])) != "11/30/-0001")?date('Ymd',strtotime($row_WADAallshows2['showend'])):''); ?>/1?searchType=CITY&page=1" target="_blank"><strong>(Hotels)</strong></a>

I had to take out ); ?> where you had it because the code hint in Dreamweaver said there was a problem

Hello Ray... well I fiddled and fiddled with it until I got the code to work! I needed to define the " - " in location rather than showbegin.

After doing all that and getting it to function, I realized that not every record in my database has a " - " after the location. They all do however have a "," right before the two character state. I realize this code with the strrpos can limit the end of a string by defining a character. But if there is no " - " then it returns an error and passes no information to Priceline (or whatever I choose). So how can I define a "," in the string and then choose infinite characters to the left of the comma and three characters to the right and include the comma in the results.

You did it again Ray! This works perfectly! My solution worked as long as there were hyphens in the record. But this saves me from having to put hyphens in 5000 records!!!!

Thanks again... you always are such a tremendous help. Now on to the next feature!!! I'm sure I'll be writing back after I've pulled out what's left of my hair....