Array - Select the sub children id's from an array - php

Question

I have this array built from a function that sorts allowed or valid url slugs and their ids into another array. I can call the current category id by passing the url slug to the category. Now I need to get the children category ids (if any) so i can call the appropriate items from the database for display purpose.
Heres an example of the array:
Array (
[radios] => 1
[radios/motorola] => 2
[radios/motorola/handheld] => 3
[radios/motorola/mobile] => 4
[radios/icom] => 5
[radios/icom/handheld] => 6
[radios/icom/mobile] => 7
[radios/mics-and-speakers] => 8
[radios/mounts] => 9
[radios/radio-other] => 10
[misc] => 11
[misc/led] => 12
[phones] => 13
[phones/samsung] => 14
[phones/lg] => 15
[phones/motorola] => 16
[phones/huawei] => 17
[phones/blackberry] => 18
[phones/flip] => 19
[boosters] => 20
[boosters/standalone] => 21
[boosters/indoor-antenna] => 22
[boosters/outdoor-antenna] => 23
[boosters/connections] => 24
[accessories] => 25
[accessories/cases] => 26
[accessories/other] => 27
[internet] => 28
[internet/fusion] => 29
[internet/point-to-point] => 30
[internet/hotspots] => 31
[internet/gateways] => 32
[internet/switches] => 33
[cameras] => 34
[cameras/complete-kits] => 35
[cameras/additional-cameras] => 36
[cameras/other] => 37
);
As you can see, each result points to the category ID of that group. If i visit the following url:
http://example.com/store/cameras
I can print out that THE PATH CURRENTLY IS: 34 which is correct. Since It has children under it, I also need their ID's and the ID's of any of their children, etc etc. That way on radios, i can show ALL of the sub category items, and on radios/motorola i am only showing the Motorola based items and its children, and such down the line.
If there an easy way, using this array I have now, to sort the children (if any) all the way down and get back just their id's (preferably in a new array) for showing database items?

Answer 1

You might want to create a function like this to filter your array,
function filterArray($array, $term) {
$pattern = "/\b" . str_replace($term, '/', '\/') . "\b/i";
foreach($array as $key => $value) {
if(preg_match($pattern, $key)) {
/* Following condition makes sure that your search
will match starting from the beginning. */
if (stripos(trim($key), $term) === 0){
$filtred[] = $value;
}
}
}
}
Then call the above function with the $array and your search $term.
filterArray($array, 'radios') will give you this,
Array ( [0] => 1 [1] => 2 [2] => 3 [3] => 4 [4] => 5 [5] => 6 [6] => 7 [7] => 8 [8] => 9 [9] => 10 )
filterArray($array, 'radios/motorola') will give you this,
Array ( [0] => 2 [1] => 3 [2] => 4 )
And so on.. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

You can maybe try double layer array, so that you can store values like this,
Array (
[name] => John
[surname] => Smith
[contact] => Array (
[address] => 18 Maple Street
[number] => 555 477 77 77
)
)
This way if you need to print something from "contact" you can use a loop and print all childs of contact field.