Generate shorted unique username based on array of first names and last names

Question

I have a multi-dimensional array called users that is formatted like the following and I am trying to create a script that will create a "username" based on this information:

$users = [
    ['first_name' => 'Bob', 'last_name' => 'Smith'],
    ['first_name' => 'Steve', 'last_name' => 'Little'],
    ['first_name' => 'Eric', 'last_name' => 'Fielder'],
    ['first_name' => 'Steve', 'last_name' => 'Richardson'],
    ['first_name' => 'Bob', 'last_name' => 'Sanders'],
    ['first_name' => 'Bob', 'last_name' => 'Sanders'],
    ['first_name' => 'Bob', 'last_name' => 'Smith'],
];

Required Logic:

• If there are no duplicate first names it uses only the first name as the username ("Eric").

• If there are two names with the same first but different initial letters in the last name it will use the first name as last initial ("Steve L." and "Steve R.").

• If multiple people have the last first name and last initial then it return the full name ("Bob Smith" and "Bob Sanders").

• Lastly, if the SAME exact name is found then it will append a number to each like this: "Bob Sanders (1)" and "Bob Sanders (2)"

I am hoping this can be done efficiently and not with a lot of loops, but I can not figure it out for the life of me.

Answer 1

This script is not that nifty but pretty much does what you want. Note that it only uses two loops but needs some additional memory to store meta data about the users:

    <?php

     $users = array(
             array("first_name"=>"Bob", "last_name"=>"Smith"),
             array("first_name"=>"Steve", "last_name"=>"Little"),
             array("first_name"=>"Eric", "last_name"=>"Fielder"),
             array("first_name"=>"Steve", "last_name"=>"Richardson"),
             array("first_name"=>"Bob", "last_name"=>"Sanders"),
             array("first_name"=>"Bob", "last_name"=>"Sanders")
             );

     $_users_info = array("first_name_count"=>array(),"last_name_count"=>array(),"first_name_last_initial_count"=>array());
     foreach($users as $user){
             $_users_info["first_name_count"][$user["first_name"]] = isset($_users_info["first_name_count"][$user["first_name"]]) ? ++$_users_info["first_name_count"][$user["first_name"]] : 1;
             $_users_info["last_name_count"][$user["last_name"]] = isset($_users_info["last_name_count"][$user["last_name"]]) ? ++$_users_info["last_name_count"][$user["last_name"]] : 1;
             $_users_info["first_name_last_initial_count"][$user["first_name"]."#".substr($user["last_name"],0,1)] = isset($_users_info["first_name_last_initial_count"][$user["first_name"]."#".substr($user["last_name"],0,1)]) ? ++$_users_info["first_name_last_initial_count"][$user["first_name"]."#".substr($user["last_name"],0,1)] : 1;
             $_users_info["complete_name_count"][$user["first_name"]."#".$user["last_name"]] = isset($_users_info["complete_name_count"][$user["first_name"]."#".$user["last_name"]]) ? ++$_users_info["complete_name_count"][$user["first_name"]."#".$user["last_name"]] : 1;
             $_users_info["complete_name_allocated"][$user["first_name"]."#".$user["last_name"]] = 0;
     }

     print('<pre>');
     foreach($users as $user) {
             $username = null;
             if($_users_info["first_name_count"][$user["first_name"]]==1) $username = $user["first_name"];
             else if($_users_info["first_name_last_initial_count"][$user["first_name"]."#".substr($user["last_name"],0,1)]==1) $username = $user["first_name"]." ".substr($user["last_name"],0,1).".";
             else if($_users_info["last_name_count"][$user["last_name"]]==1) $username = $user["first_name"]." ".$user["last_name"];
             else $username = $user["first_name"]." ".$user["last_name"].sprintf(" (%d)",++$_users_info["complete_name_allocated"][$user["first_name"]."#".$user["last_name"]]);
             printf("%s %s => %s\n",$user["first_name"],$user["last_name"],$username);
     }
     print('</pre>');
    ?>