Removing extraneous semicolons from string in PHP

Question

I have a variable $collectors which can contain from one to seven peoples names separated by semicolons. If the string houses a single name then it will be followed by seven semicolons, if it houses two names then 5 semicolons. How can I strip out the extraneous semicolons that are at the end of the string while leaving the ones separating the actual peoples names in place?

Examples of data held in $collectors John Doe;;;;;;; John Doe;Jane Doe;;;;;; John Doe;Jane Doe;Bob Smith;;;;; etc.

Answer 1

If those names can be at every position in the CSV string you can use preg_replace():

$strippedSemicolonStr = preg_replace('/;+/', ';', $str);

Be aware that with this solution it's possible to have a string ending with a ; because it just removes duplicate semicolons.

If all names are at the begining of the CSV string (without gaps) you can use rtrim():

$strippedSemicolonStr = rtrim($str, ';');

With this solution you'll loos any semicolons at the end of the string. So the new string won't end in a ;.