PHP String to multidimensional array

Question

Let's say I have the following string in my variable:

$arr['data_|_multilanguage_|_en_|_field'] = 23;

I want to transform that into a multidimensional array as follows:

$arr['data']['multilanguage']['en']['field'] = 23;

I did a recursive function

foreach ($arr as $outer_key => $outer_value) {

    $parts = explode('_|_', $outer_key);

    $reference =& $arr;
    $final_key = count($parts) - 1;

    foreach ($parts as $key => $part) {
        if (!$final_key == $key) {

            if (empty($reference[$part])) {
                $reference[$part] = array();
            }

            $reference =& $reference[$part];

        } else {
            $reference[$part] = $arr[$str];
            unset($arr[$outer_key]);
        }
    }
}

The problem is that the var_dump shows that the children are reference. Is there a better way?

possible duplicate of: [628176/using-a-string-path-to-set-nested-array-data](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9628176/using-a-string-path-to-set-nested-array-data) — Ryan Vincent, May 27 '14 at 13:58
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7851590/array-set-value-using-dot-notation separator aside ^^ — moonwave99, May 27 '14 at 13:59

zessx · Answer 1 · 2014-05-27T14:00:02.183

You just have a wrong if() statement :

 if (!$final_key == $key) {}

! will be evaluated before ==.
Change it for :

 if ($final_key != $key) {}

(you've got another little issue in your final $reference[$part] = assignment, I corrected it in the following code)

$arr['data_|_multilanguage_|_en_|_field'] = 23;

foreach ($arr as $outer_key => $outer_value) {

    $parts = explode('_|_', $outer_key);

    $reference =& $arr;
    $final_key = count($parts) - 1;

    foreach ($parts as $key => $part) {

        if ($final_key != $key) { 

            if (empty($reference[$part])) {
                $reference[$part] = array();
            }

            $reference =& $reference[$part];

        } else {
            $reference[$part] = $outer_value;
            unset($arr[$outer_key]);
        }
    }
}

And here is your result !

array(1) {
  ["data"]=>
  array(1) {
    ["multilanguage"]=>
    array(1) {
      ["en"]=>
      &array(1) {
        ["field"]=>
        int(23)
      }
    }
  }
}

and `$reference[$part] = $arr[$str];` should be `$reference[$part] = $outer_value;` — palindrom, May 27 '14 at 13:57
thanks this solution (with some minor modifications) it worked for a problem I was having :) — mic, May 29 '14 at 13:03

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 27 '14 at 13:55

This should work I think, pass in your (existing) array, wanted key (why not use dot notation instead of '_|_' ?), and your desired value

function array_set(&$array, $key, $value)
    {
        if (is_null($key)) return $array = $value;

        $keys = explode('_|_', $key);

        while (count($keys) > 1)
        {
            $key = array_shift($keys);

            // If the key doesn't exist at this depth, we will just create an empty array
            // to hold the next value, allowing us to create the arrays to hold final
            // values at the correct depth. Then we'll keep digging into the array.
            if ( ! isset($array[$key]) || ! is_array($array[$key]))
            {
                $array[$key] = array();
            }

            $array =& $array[$key];
        }

        $array[array_shift($keys)] = $value;

        return $array;
    }

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 27 '14 at 14:31

<?php
$arr = array();
$arr['data_|_multilanguage_|_en_|_field'] = 23;
$arr['data_|_multilanguage_|_en_|_field2'] = 32;
$arr['data_|_multilanguage_|_fr_|_field'] = 57;
$arr['data_|_test'] = 57;
$arr['data_|_testing_|_var'] = 57;

function doArray(&$newarr,$keys,$value) {
    if(count($keys) > 1) {
        $key = array_shift($keys);

        if(!isset($newarr[$key]) || !is_array($newarr[$key])) {
            $newarr[$key] = array();
        }

        doArray($newarr[$key],$keys,$value);
    } else {
        $newarr[array_shift($keys)] = $value;
    }
}

$newarr = array();
foreach($arr AS $key => $value) {
    $keys = explode("_|_",$key);

    doArray($newarr,$keys,$value);
}

echo '<pre>';
print_r($newarr);
echo '</pre>';
?>

PHP String to multidimensional array

3 Answers3