How to add $_POST values in a multi-dimensional array (PHP)? - php

Question

I know there may be sources for this out there but I'v tried everything and I'm still not getting the proper solution. That why I'm asking for you help out here.
I have a $_POST array and I want to put values in a an array. Here is the final out I want:
$response = [
['category' => 2, 'value' => "june"],
['category' => 5, 'value' => "may"],
['category' => 8, 'value' => "april"]
]
Here is the catch,the $_POST contains a value of an integer with a space in between and then a string eg '2 june', '5 may' etc
When I get this value, I split it using explode then I try to add the individual values into the response array. This is only adding just one result.
What I tried:
$response = [];
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
$split = explode(" ", $value);
$result = ['category' => $split[0], 'value' => $split[1]];
$response[] = $result;
}
for some reason, the results are not as suggested above. Any ideas and suggestion will be appreciated.

Answer 1

Basically, problem is in the $_POST. This is global array with submitted key-values data. You should NOT use
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
for parsing your data without any checks. This data is submitted by user, and not always they will have format you're waiting for.
For example, if you have a variable "dates" in your HTML form, you should be ready that $_POST['dates'] will be an array of all of your '5 june', '7 july', etc. Don't forget to check and validate all user data you received. It's important by security reason too.
Your code (foreach body, without condition) is ok, I've checked it. Try to set print_r() before explode() you will see that your're working with an array, not with a string.

Answer 2

Your question doesn't have an issue with processing the data into the correct resulting array. The onus falls on $_POST not holding the expected data.
All answers to this question are powerless to fix your $_POST data because no html form was supplied with your question. The only potential value that can be offered is to refine your array building process.
Here are two methods that improve your process by reducing the number of declared variables:
Demonstration uses $a=array('2 june','5 may','8 april'); to represent your $_POST array.
One-liner in a foreach loop:
foreach($a as $v){
$r[]=array_combine(["category","value"],explode(" ",$v));
}
One-liner with no loop:
$r=array_map(function($v){return array_combine(["category","value"],explode(" ",$v));},$a);
Using either process the resulting $r will be:
array (
0 =>
array (
'category' => '2',
'value' => 'june',
),
1 =>
array (
'category' => '5',
'value' => 'may',
),
2 =>
array (
'category' => '8',
'value' => 'april',
),
)
References for used functions:
explode() , array_combine() , array_map()

Answer 3

Try this one:
$response = [];
// just for example use this one
$data = "2 june, 5 may, 7 july";
$temp = explode(",", $data);
// and you can use this one for your case
/*$data = $_POST['var_name']; // var_name is your variable name from $_POST
$temp = explode(",", $data);*/
foreach ($temp as $key => $value) {
$split = explode(" ", trim($value));
foreach ($split as $val) {
$result = ['category' => $split[0], 'value' => $split[1]];
}
$respon[] = $result;
}
echo "<pre>";
echo print_r($respon);
echo "</pre";
the output:
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[category] => 2
[value] => june
)
[1] => Array
(
[category] => 5
[value] => may
)
[2] => Array
(
[category] => 7
[value] => july
)
)

Answer 4

$response = array();
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
$split = '';
$split = explode(" ", $value);
$result = array('category' => $split[0], 'value' => $split[1]);
$response[] = $result;
}