Grab array from textarea and convert it into an array - php

Question

I need user to enter an array in a textarea and this array might be big array, I tried to serialize it and save it encoded in DB but it failed,
This is my code:
if( strpos( $_POST['textarea_array'], 'array' ) !== FALSE ) {
$temp_serialized = serialize( $_POST['textarea_array'] );
if( ( $temp_unserialized = #unserialize( $temp_serialized ) !== FALSE )
&& is_array( $temp_unserialized ) ) {
/* Condition FAILED */
$temp_json = json_encode( $temp_unserialized );
$final_value = base64_encode( $temp_json );
}
}
Example of what would be entered in the textarea a simple or a complicated array with sub array for each key
array(
'x_sub_array' => array(
'x_1' => 'X 1',
'x_2' => 'X 2',
'x_3' => 'X 3',
);
'x_2' => 'X 2',
'x_3' => 'X 3',
);

Answer 1

First of all, there are easier ways to pass data. But if this is the absolute ONLY way, might as well answer it bluntly. (If your user strictly adheres to the format...)
if(isset($_POST['textarea_array'])){
$raw = $_POST['textarea_array'];
//Parse the array section
$start = strpos($raw, "(");
$end = strpos($raw, ")");
$full = substr($raw,$start+1,$end - ($start+1));
//Remove quotations
$full = str_replace("'","",$full);
//Divide string into array of segments `key=>value` as one segment
$segments = explode(",", $full);
foreach($segments as $segment){
//Divide each segment `key=>value` to a temp array
//Index 0 will hold the key, Index 1 will hold value
$array_part = explode("=>",$segment);
//Remove spaces
$key = trim($array_part[0]);
$value = trim($array_part[1]);
//insert into associative array
$final[$key] = $value;
}
//$final now has your associative array
echo json_encode($final);
}
Again, there are better alternatives.
-How bout having the user pass a json object via AJAX?
-Or how bout the user enter each element and separate with a newline?
But never rely on serialize or eval especially since you dont want users to have access to your php pages.