RELATED: How do I fix this error: Warning: strpos(): Empty needle on line 122

I don't think you can duplicate the IF/ELSE IF structure when you have to test the $data[xx] variables first.  If all of the $data[xx] variables exist you end up with the last match.  You original code depended on the result of the 'strpos' comparison but that was resulting in the error when the data didn't exist.  Your NEW CODE should work.  Is it doing or not doing something you don't want?

In your original code, the conditional would end with the first true condition because of the elseif statements. In your new code, each true condition will overwrite the previous value of $Color and you will end up with the value of the last true condition. I would loop through the list of indices and break out of the loop when the first is found, then do the strpos conditional on the targeted index.

$indices = [22,24,26,28,30];
foreach ($indices as $index) { if (isset($test_array[$index]) ) break; }
if ((strpos('Color|Flashlight Color|Color/Finish|LED Color|Blade Color|Handle Color|Lens Color|Handle/Blade Color|Body Color|Light Color|LED Colors|Frame Color|Buckle Color|Lens Color / Frame Color|Snap Color|Gate Color|Lamp Color',$data[$index]) !==false)) {
	$Color = $data[$index + 1];
}

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I'm not sure what your intended purpose is for the final conditional statement which is equivalent of saying if $Color is empty then true:

if ($Color == "") {
$Color == "";
}

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Maybe use else in your conditional statements?

Similar to Kim's idea, this will find the first matching data element.  But something "feels funny" about this approach to an array search.  Maybe if we could see the test data and have a little better narrative about the objective we could suggest a more mainstream design pattern.  With this design, if one of the array elements contained only the letter "C", that single letter is what would be assigned to the $Color variable.  Maybe that's right, but it seems like it's kind of a fringe case.

<?php // demo/temp_lawrence_dev.php
/**
 * https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28992213/RELATED-How-do-I-fix-this-error-Warning-strpos-Empty-needle-on-line-122.html#a41942366
 */
error_reporting(E_ALL);

// THE TEST DATA ARRAY IS MISSING FROM THE POST AT E-E
$data = [];

// THE SEARCH STRING
$key = 'Color|Flashlight Color|Color/Finish|LED Color|Blade Color|Handle Color|Lens Color|Handle/Blade Color|Body Color|Light Color|LED Colors|Frame Color|Buckle Color|Lens Color / Frame Color|Snap Color|Gate Color|Lamp Color';

// THE DEFAULT VALUE OF VARIABLE WE WANT TO SET
$Color = "";

// THE ARRAY INDEXES WE WANT TO TEST
$ndxs = [ 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 ];

foreach ($ndxs as $ndx)
{
    if (!empty($data[$ndx]))
    {
        if (strpos($key, $data[$ndx]) !== FALSE)
        {
            $Color = $data[$ndx];
            break;
        }
    }
}


// SHOW THE WORK PRODUCT
var_dump($Color);

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You may can use the PHP IF shorthand, like     (isset($data[22]) ? $data[22] : "")

if you want to see ALL $data[ ] array numbers for inspection and change you may can use -

$Color = "";
$search = 'Color|Flashlight Color|Color/Finish|LED Color|Blade Color|Handle Color|Lens Color|Handle/Blade Color'.
'|Body Color|Light Color|LED Colors|Frame Color|Buckle Color|Lens Color / Frame Color|Snap Color|Gate Color|Lamp Color';

   if ((strpos($search, (isset($data[22]) ? $data[22] : "")) !==false)) $Color = $data[23];

elseif ((strpos($search, (isset($data[24]) ? $data[24] : "")) !==false))  $Color = $data[25];

elseif ((strpos($search, (isset($data[24]) ? $data[26] : "")) !==false))  $Color = $data[27];

elseif ((strpos($search, (isset($data[24]) ? $data[28] : "")) !==false))  $Color = $data[29];

elseif ((strpos($search, (isset($data[24]) ? $data[30] : "")) !==false))  $Color = $data[31];

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Slick812, That is a great solution and exactly what I looking for!!  I am still working with it to solve the empty needle issue.  

Warning: strpos(): Empty needle is still an error.

Here is more information regarding what my code looks like.  The download works perfect without the strpos().

$filename="Product_Catalog.txt";


//open the file
$handle = fopen($filename, "r");
//this is what causes it to skip
fgetcsv($handle," ","\t"," ");    



//begin looping through the lines
while (($data = fgetcsv($handle, " ","\t"," ")) !== FALSE)
{


// loop all column values and escape special characters
 foreach ($data as $key => $value){
  $data[$key] = $value;
}

$Color = "";
$search = 'Color|Flashlight Color|Color/Finish|LED Color|Blade Color|Handle Color|Lens Color|Handle/Blade Color'.
'|Body Color|Light Color|LED Colors|Frame Color|Buckle Color|Lens Color / Frame Color|Snap Color|Gate Color|Lamp Color';

if ((strpos($search, (isset($data[22]) ? $data[22] : "")) !==false)) $Color = $data[23];

elseif ((strpos($search, (isset($data[24]) ? $data[24] : "")) !==false))  $Color = $data[25];

elseif ((strpos($search, (isset($data[26]) ? $data[26] : "")) !==false))  $Color = $data[27];

elseif ((strpos($search, (isset($data[28]) ? $data[28] : "")) !==false))  $Color = $data[29];

elseif ((strpos($search, (isset($data[29]) ? $data[30] : "")) !==false))  $Color = $data[31];

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Any chance we could see the test data and the desired outputs?

SLICK812, you are awesome!  Worked Great!  I did have to remove a )  in "f!f!f")

THANKS!!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Very well done!!

tanks fur pointz larryy, weres de cork screww?