Convert data generated by print_r() back to php code - php

Question

I have text which is generated by print_r($some_array,true) and it looks something like this:
Array
(
[name] => Jon
[lastname] => Jonson
[car] => Array
(
[name] => bmw
[year] => 2012
)
)
(Real data have much more values and more dimensions.)
Question: how to convert this data back, into php's array ?

Answer 1

Looking at the print_r documentation on php.net 'Matt' has posted a solution:
<?php
function print_r_reverse($in) {
$lines = explode("\n", trim($in));
if (trim($lines[0]) != 'Array') {
// bottomed out to something that isn't an array
return $in;
} else {
// this is an array, lets parse it
if (preg_match("/(\s{5,})\(/", $lines[1], $match)) {
// this is a tested array/recursive call to this function
// take a set of spaces off the beginning
$spaces = $match[1];
$spaces_length = strlen($spaces);
$lines_total = count($lines);
for ($i = 0; $i < $lines_total; $i++) {
if (substr($lines[$i], 0, $spaces_length) == $spaces) {
$lines[$i] = substr($lines[$i], $spaces_length);
}
}
}
array_shift($lines); // Array
array_shift($lines); // (
array_pop($lines); // )
$in = implode("\n", $lines);
// make sure we only match stuff with 4 preceding spaces (stuff for this array and not a nested one)
preg_match_all("/^\s{4}\[(.+?)\] \=\> /m", $in, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE | PREG_SET_ORDER);
$pos = array();
$previous_key = '';
$in_length = strlen($in);
// store the following in $pos:
// array with key = key of the parsed array's item
// value = array(start position in $in, $end position in $in)
foreach ($matches as $match) {
$key = $match[1][0];
$start = $match[0][1] + strlen($match[0][0]);
$pos[$key] = array($start, $in_length);
if ($previous_key != '') $pos[$previous_key][1] = $match[0][1] - 1;
$previous_key = $key;
}
$ret = array();
foreach ($pos as $key => $where) {
// recursively see if the parsed out value is an array too
$ret[$key] = print_r_reverse(substr($in, $where[0], $where[1] - $where[0]));
}
return $ret;
}
}
?>
(Not my code)