Using variable name in Laravel request object - php

Question

I need to be able to loop through a list of laravel request variables and do something with them. I want to be able to use a variable when calling the request object so that I can run it in a loop instead of writing a line of code for every one.
For example, my text inputs may have names that look something like this
contact_main_name
contact_main_telephone
contact_main_email
contact_sub_name
contact_sub_telephone
contact_sub_email
contact_backup_name
contact_backup_telephone
contact_backup_email
In my request, I don't want to have to write
$request->contact_main_name
$request->contact_main_telephone
For each different type of contact I may have, I want to be able to loop through them like so
$contactTypes = [
'main',
'sub',
'backup',
'head'
];
foreach($contactTypes as $type){
//Start a new contact
$contact = new Contact;
$contact->type = $type;
$contact->name = $request->${"contact_".$type."_name"};
$contact->telephone = $request->${"contact_".$type."_telephone"};
$contact->email = $request->${"contact_".$type."_email"};
$contact->save();
}
How would i use a variable name when calling a laravel $request so that I can just build an array of possible types and loop through them all?
Note
I know i can edit the input fields themselves to look something like name="contact[type][name]" and then loop through them, but I cant be changing the input names, I have to do it via php in the controller itself.

Answer 1

As answered in comments, to do this, change the method of calling the input and use the actual input() function itself.
$contactTypes = [
'main',
'sub',
'backup',
'head'
];
foreach($contactTypes as $type){
//Start a new contact
$contact = new Contact;
$contact->type = $type;
$contact->name = $request->input("contact_".$type."_name");
$contact->telephone = $request->input("contact_".$type."_telephone");
$contact->email = $request->input("contact_".$type."_email");
$contact->save();
}

Answer 2

As an aside, you could also modify it slightly to use array indices matching the field names; this would allow you to add fields later by adding the appropriate field to the database and HTML without touching the code, and use array_keys() to retrieve the types submitted to allow seamless addition of types. As long as your validations are tight, this is probably the most automated way to allow future expansion...
Ex. Field Names:
contact[main][name]
contact[main][telephone]
...
contact[backup][email]
Ex. Code:
foreach(array_keys($request->input('contact')) as $type) {
$contact = Contact::create($request->input('contact.'.$type));
$contact->type = $type;
$contact->save();
}