parser.php

<?php

// split full names into the following parts:
// - prefix / salutation  (Mr., Mrs., etc)
// - given name / first name
// - middle initials
// - surname / last name
// - suffix (II, Phd, Jr, etc)
function split_full_name($full_name) {
    $full_name = trim($full_name);
    // split into words
    $unfiltered_name_parts = explode(" ",$full_name);
    // completely ignore any words in parentheses
    foreach ($unfiltered_name_parts as $word) {
        if ($word{0} != "(")
            $name_parts[] = $word;
    }
    $num_words = sizeof($name_parts);

    // is the first word a title? (Mr. Mrs, etc)
    $salutation = is_salutation($name_parts[0]);
    $suffix = is_suffix($name_parts[sizeof($name_parts)-1]);

    // set the range for the middle part of the name (trim prefixes & suffixes)
    $start = ($salutation) ? 1 : 0;
    $end = ($suffix) ? $num_words-1 : $num_words;

    // concat the first name
    for ($i=$start; $i < $end-1; $i++) {
        $word = $name_parts[$i];
        // move on to parsing the last name if we find an indicator of a compound last name (Von, Van, etc)
        // we use $i != $start to allow for rare cases where an indicator is actually the first name (like "Von Fabella")
        if (is_compound_lname($word) && $i != $start)
            break;
        // is it a middle initial or part of their first name?
        // if we start off with an initial, we'll call it the first name
        if (is_initial($word)) {
            // is the initial the first word?  
            if ($i == $start) {
                // if so, do a look-ahead to see if they go by their middle name
                // for ex: "R. Jason Smith" => "Jason Smith" & "R." is stored as an initial
                // but "R. J. Smith" => "R. Smith" and "J." is stored as an initial
                if (is_initial($name_parts[$i+1]))
                    $fname .= " ".strtoupper($word);
                else
                    $initials .= " ".strtoupper($word);
            // otherwise, just go ahead and save the initial
            } else {
                $initials .= " ".strtoupper($word);
            }
        } else {
            $fname .= " ".fix_case($word);
        }  
    }

    // check that we have more than 1 word in our string
    if ($end-$start > 1) {
        // concat the last name
        for ($i; $i < $end; $i++) {
            $lname .= " ".fix_case($name_parts[$i]);
        }
    } else {
        // otherwise, single word strings are assumed to be first names
        $fname = fix_case($name_parts[$i]);
    }

    // return the various parts in an array
    $name['salutation'] = $salutation;
    $name['fname'] = trim($fname);
    $name['initials'] = trim($initials);
    $name['lname'] = trim($lname);
    $name['suffix'] = $suffix;
    return $name;
}

// detect and format standard salutations
// I'm only considering english honorifics for now & not words like
function is_salutation($word) {
    // ignore periods
    $word = str_replace('.','',strtolower($word));
    // returns normalized values
    if ($word == "mr" || $word == "master" || $word == "mister")
        return "Mr.";
    else if ($word == "mrs")
        return "Mrs.";
    else if ($word == "miss" || $word == "ms")
        return "Ms.";
    else if ($word == "dr")
        return "Dr.";
    else if ($word == "rev")
        return "Rev.";
    else if ($word == "fr")
        return "Fr.";
    else
        return false;
}

//  detect and format common suffixes
function is_suffix($word) {
    // ignore periods
    $word = str_replace('.','',$word);
    // these are some common suffixes - what am I missing?
    $suffix_array = array('I','II','III','IV','V','Senior','Junior','Jr','Sr','PhD','APR','RPh','PE','MD','MA','DMD','CME');
    foreach ($suffix_array as $suffix) {
        if (strtolower($suffix) == strtolower($word))
            return $suffix;
    }
    return false;
}

// detect compound last names like "Von Fange"
function is_compound_lname($word) {
    $word = strtolower($word);
    // these are some common prefixes that identify a compound last names - what am I missing?
    $words = array('vere','von','van','de','del','della','di','da','pietro','vanden','du','st.','st','la','ter');
    return array_search($word,$words);
}

// single letter, possibly followed by a period
function is_initial($word) {
    return ((strlen($word) == 1) || (strlen($word) == 2 && $word{1} == "."));
}

// detect mixed case words like "McDonald"
// returns false if the string is all one case
function is_camel_case($word) {
    if (preg_match("|[A-Z]+|s", $word) && preg_match("|[a-z]+|s", $word))
        return true;
    return false;
}

// ucfirst words split by dashes or periods
// ucfirst all upper/lower strings, but leave camelcase words alone
function fix_case($word) {
    // uppercase words split by dashes, like "Kimura-Fay"
    $word = safe_ucfirst("-",$word);
    // uppercase words split by periods, like "J.P."
    $word = safe_ucfirst(".",$word);
    return $word;
}

// helper function for fix_case
function safe_ucfirst($seperator, $word) {
    // uppercase words split by the seperator (ex. dashes or periods)
    $parts = explode($seperator,$word);
    foreach ($parts as $word) {
        $words[] = (is_camel_case($word)) ? $word : ucfirst(strtolower($word));
    }
    return implode($seperator,$words);
}

?>