Ordinarily, I would suggest use of PEAR's Console_Table package, this is just an example solution for the first test suggested at http://phpixie.com/blog/test-tasks-for-php-interviews-that-developers-will-enjoy-solving/
<?php
/**
* ArrayAsAcsiiTable.php
* 31-Jul-2013
*
* Ordinarily, I would suggest use of PEAR's Console_Table package, this
* is just an example solution for the first test suggested at
* http://phpixie.com/blog/test-tasks-for-php-interviews-that-developers-will-enjoy-solving/
*
* PHP Version 5
*
* @category ConsoleTable
* @package ConsoleTable
* @author Ken Guest <ken@linux.ie>
* @license BSD http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
* @link .
*/
/**
* ConsoleTable class to print an associative array as an ASCII table.
*
* @category ConsoleTable
* @package ConsoleTable
* @author Ken Guest <ken@linux.ie>
* @copyright 2013 Ken Guest.
* @license BSD http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
* @link .
*/
class ConsoleTable
{
const CORNER = '+';
const HORIZONTAL = '-';
const VERTICAL = '|';
public $color = false;
/**
* __construct
*
* @param array $config optional config array
*
* @return ConsoleTable
*/
public function __construct(array $config = [])
{
$this->setConfig($config);
}
/**
* Configure instance of this class according to given config array.
*
* Supported keys:
* * color - enable color support (boolean)
*
* @param array $config Config array
*
* @return ConsoleTable
*/
public function setConfig(array $config)
{
if (isset($config['color'])) {
$this->color = (bool) $config['color'];
}
return $this;
}
/**
* Given associative array of data, determine field lenghts required for
* displaying the data in tabular form on the console.
*
* @param array $data Assoc. array
*
* @return array
*/
private function _getColLengths($data)
{
$lengths = array_flip(array_keys($data[0]));
foreach ($data as $datum) {
$keys = array_keys($datum);
foreach ($keys as $index=>$key) {
$$key = strlen($datum[$key]);
if ($$key > $lengths[$key]) {
$lengths[$key] = $$key;
}
if ($lengths[$key] < strlen($key)) {
$lengths[$key] = strlen($key);
}
}
}
return $lengths;
}
/**
* Given associative array of field lenghts, return string
* containing a horizontal bar for representing them.
*
* @param array $colLengths Assoc. Array
*
* @return string
*/
private function _getBar(array $colLengths)
{
$bar = self::CORNER;
foreach ($colLengths as $length) {
$filler = str_pad('', $length + 2, self::HORIZONTAL);
$bar = $bar . $filler . self::CORNER;
}
return $bar;
}
/**
* Start ANSI color code sequence.
*
* @param string $color name of color
*
* @return void
*/
private function _startColor($color)
{
if ($this->color == true) {
switch(strtolower($color)) {
case 'black':
echo "\033[30m";
break;
case 'red':
echo "\033[31m";
break;
case 'green':
echo "\033[32m";
break;
case 'brown':
echo "\033[33m";
case 'blue':
echo "\033[34m";
break;
case 'purple':
echo "\033[35m";
break;
case 'cyan':
echo "\033[36m";
break;
case 'white':
echo "\033[37m";
break;
}
}
}
/**
* Terminiate ANSI color codes.
*
* @return void
*/
private function _endColor()
{
if ($this->color == true) {
echo "\033[37m";
}
}
/**
* draw table of data passed in associative array
*
* If a key is named 'color' or 'colour' and color support is enabled then
* output that data in the named colour.
*
* @param array $data Associative array of data
*
* @return ConsoleTable
*/
public function draw($data)
{
$colLengths = $this->_getColLengths($data);
$bar = $this->_getBar($colLengths);
echo $bar, "\n";
$keys = array_keys($data[0]);
foreach ($keys as $key) {
echo self::VERTICAL . ' ' . str_pad($key, $colLengths[$key] + 1);
}
echo self::VERTICAL, "\n";
echo $bar, "\n";
foreach ($data as $datum) {
foreach ($keys as $key) {
echo self::VERTICAL . ' ';
$lkey = strtolower($key);
if ($lkey == 'color' || $lkey = 'colour') {
$this->_startColor($datum[$key]);
}
echo str_pad($datum[$key], $colLengths[$key] + 1);
if ($lkey == 'color' || $lkey = 'colour') {
$this->_endColor();
}
}
echo self::VERTICAL, "\n";
}
echo $bar, "\n";
return $this;
}
}
$data = array(
array(
'Name' => 'Trixie',
'Color' => 'Green',
'Element' => 'Earth',
'Likes' => 'Flowers',
),
array(
'Name' => 'Tinkerbell',
'Element' => 'Air',
'Likes' => 'Singing',
'Color' => 'Blue',
),
array(
'Element' => 'Water',
'Likes' => 'Dancing',
'Name' => 'Blum',
'Color' => 'Pink',
),
);
$table = new ConsoleTable();
$table->setConfig(['color' => true])->draw($data);
?>