How to `unstring` an object wrapped in a string without calling it? - php

Question

I have an array with values that are objects wrapped as strings, how can I turn them back into objects without calling them? ['randomNumber' => '$this->faker->randomNumber()']
This array is being passed into a stub (writing a php file):
$replace = [
'{{mappedResult}}' => var_export($mappedResults, 1),
];
instead of getting this array:
$mappedResults = ['randomNumber' => $this->faker->randomNumber()]
I get this array instead:
$mappedResults = ['randomNumber' => '$this->faker->randomNumber()']

Answer 1

If you want to use the return value of the method call as the value in the map, you can use eval:
foreach ($mappedResults as $key => $value)
$mappedResults[$key] = eval($value)
Note eval returns NULL unless a return statement is called in the code string. Then the value passed to return is returned. If there is a parse error in the code string, eval() returns FALSE.
Hence you don't want to call and evaluate the code and based on my understanding you want to recreate the php file, you should use a custom export function that can remove quotations:
function export($input) {
$response = [];
foreach($input as $key => $value)
$response[] = var_export($key, true) . " => " . $value;
return "[".implode(",",$response)."]";
}