Add and modify value in a deep nested mixed array - php

Question

Let's say you have an array like this:
$list = array(
'name' => 'foobar',
'id' => '12302',
'group' => array(array(
'name' => 'teamA',
'members' => array(
array(
'ID' => 'OAHSJLASJ8888'
'name' => 'eric',
'fname' => 'lu',
'age' => '22'
),
array(
'ID' => 'OKZ8JJLJYYH6'
'name' => 'franz',
'fname' => 'as',
'age' => '33'
),
array(
'ID' => 'OKOIYHJKKK'
'name' => 'Amr',
'fname' => 'ok',
'age' => '13'
)
)
),
array(
'name' => 'teamB',
'members' => array(
array(
'ID' => 'FGZ9ILKA'
'name' => 'Evan',
'fname' => 'lu',
'age' => '22'
),
array(
'ID' => 'KMLML2039KKK'
'name' => 'Michel',
'fname' => 'as',
'age' => '33'
),
array(
'ID' => 'AAA2039KKK'
'name' => 'Nickr',
'fname' => 'ok',
'age' => '13'
)
)
)
)
);
You want to add a value to the associative array named Amr which is the third element of the member key of the group key $list[group][0][members][2][newKey] = B
Using recursive function and foreach, I'm able to find anything I'm aiming at. Using array_walk_recursive I can also find the targeted key value and modify it.
Using RecursiveIteratorIterator and foreach, I can also find the element and modify it's value.
My issue is that I can not replace the modified object within the tree. I can follow the path down, but I'm not able to climb the tree back. I could maintain a index of each array I traverse and then recalculate the path to the key, but it looks culprit to me.
I can not modify the data structure, the dataset I have is as is.
Thanks for any help you could bring.
Code for Iterator:
$iterator = new RecursiveIteratorIterator(new RecursiveArrayIterator($list));
foreach($iterator as $key=>$value) {
if ($key === 'ID') {
$metas = get_relatedmeta_objects($value),true));
//metas key should be added to the current array
}
}
Recursive method:
function searchKeyAndAdd( &$element) {
if(is_array($element) || is_object($element)){
foreach ( $element as &$key => $value ) {
if ($key === "ID") {
$metas = get_relatedmeta_objects($value);
//metas key should be added to the current array
} else if (is_array($value)) {
searchObject($value);
}
}
}
}
array_walk_recursive method:
function alterArray(&$item, $key, &$parentRec) {
if (is_array($item) || is_object($item)) {
searchObject($item);
}
if ($key === 'ID') {
$parentRec = json_decode(json_encode($parentRec), true);
$parentRec['metas'] = get_field_objects($item);
// the current array is modified but the value does not go back to the $list initial array.
}
}
function searchObject( &$element, &$parent) {
array_walk_recursive($element, 'alterArray', $element);
}
The data set could be anything. You do not know the key, you just know that some nested object can have ID key and when they do you want to add more content to this object.

Answer 1

The recursive function can do it, but you should use the & prefix on $value instead of $key:
function searchKeyAndAdd( &$element) {
if(is_array($element) || is_object($element)){
foreach ( $element as $key => &$value ) {
if ($key === "ID") {
$element['meta'] = get_relatedmeta_objects($value);
} else {
searchKeyAndAdd($value);
}
}
}
}
searchKeyAndAdd($list);
The other two methods offer no reference to the parent, although in the case of array_walk_recursive you tried it with the third argument, but there things get messy: to make it work on each recursive depth, you call array_walk_recursive recursively... but array_walk_recursive already visits all the key/value pairs recursively. So this will lead to many calls to alterArray with the same key/value, but with a different ancestor as third argument for each of them.
Furthermore, with this line:
$parentRec = json_decode(json_encode($parentRec), true);
... you lose the reference to the original $parentRec, and so any modification you make to $parentRec will no longer have an effect on the original array.