Comparing dates and times inside a text file

Hello Everyone,

I have different entries in a log file in the form:

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.

 

The "easy" bit is splitting up the entries:

<?php

$filecontents = file_get_contents("events.log");

$logentries = explode("================================================", $filecontents);

array_shift($logentries);

?>

PHP:

The problem with that is you have two entries in the array to reflect one event.

<?php $lines = count($logentries)/3; ?>

PHP:

This should solve that, though.

Match up the date entries:

<?php $pattern = "/([a-zA-Z]{3}) ([0-9]{2}) ([0-9]{4}) ([0-9]{2}):([0-9]{2}):([0-9]{2})/i"; ?>

PHP:

These variables are used to know which entries to check:

<?php
$time = 0;
$nexttime = 0;
?>

PHP:

Then run the check itself:

<?php
for($i = 0; $i < $lines; $i++) {
    preg_match($pattern, $logentries[$time], $match1);
    $nexttime = $nexttime+2;
    preg_match($pattern, $logentries[$nexttime], $match2);
    if(strtotime($match1[0]) < strtotime($match2[0])) {
        print("true");
    } else {
        print("false");
    }
    $time = $time+2;
}
?>

PHP:

Assuming I've understood what you want to do.

I'm sure someone more skilled at PHP can show you a better way to do it.

 

Thanks, ryan_uk!