Move elements in multidimensional array - php

Question

I decoded XML document to an array via a json string like this:
$xmldoc =
'<music genre="electronic">
<festival name="Berlin">
<concert status="Not Started" date="24.03.2017">
<organizers>
<person name="V. Smith" id="130171"/>
</organizers>
</concert>
</festival>
</music>';
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xmldoc);
$json = preg_replace_callback('/\\\\u([0-9a-f]{4})/i', 'replace_unicode_escape_sequence',json_encode($xml,true));
$array = json_decode($json,TRUE);
However, the elements with attributes were created with another "#attributes" layer like this:
Array
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[genre] => electronic
)
[festival] => Array
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[name] => Berlin
)
[concert] => Array
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[status] => Not Started
[date] => 24.03.2017
)
[organizers] => Array
(
[person] => Array
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[name] => V. Smith
[id] => 130171
)
)
)
)
)
)
How can I remove the "#attributes" layer, so that the resulting array looks like this instead:
Array
(
[genre] => electronic
[festival] => Array
(
[name] => Berlin
[concert] => Array
(
[status] => Not Started
[date] => 24.03.2017
[organizers] => Array
(
[person] => Array
(
[name] => V. Smith
[id] => 130171
)
)
)
)
)
I tried recursively traversing the array, and I can find the "#attributes", but then I'm having difficulty moving that section one dimension up to get rid of the "#attributes" layer.
Thank you.

Answer 1

Try below solution:
<?php
$xmldoc =
'<music genre="electronic">
<festival name="Berlin">
<concert status="Not Started" date="24.03.2017">
<organizers>
<person name="V. Smith" id="130171"/>
</organizers>
</concert>
</festival>
</music>';
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xmldoc);
$json = preg_replace_callback('/\\\\u([0-9a-f]{4})/i', 'replace_unicode_escape_sequence',json_encode($xml,true));
$array = json_decode($json,TRUE);
function removeSpecificKey(&$desired_array, $actualArray, $key_to_remove)
{
if (is_array($actualArray)) {
foreach ($actualArray as $key => $map) {
if ($key !== $key_to_remove) {
$desired_array[$key] = array();
removeSpecificKey($desired_array[$key], $actualArray[$key], $key_to_remove);
} else {
removeSpecificKey($desired_array, $actualArray[$key], $key_to_remove);
}
}
} else {
$desired_array = $actualArray;
}
}
$desired_array = array();
removeSpecificKey($desired_array, $array, '#attributes');
print_r($desired_array);
Output:
Array
(
[genre] => electronic
[festival] => Array
(
[name] => Berlin
[concert] => Array
(
[status] => Not Started
[date] => 24.03.2017
[organizers] => Array
(
[person] => Array
(
[name] => V. Smith
[id] => 130171
)
)
)
)
)

Answer 2

I'm going to start by saying to you what I say to everyone using more and more convoluted ways of abusing SimpleXML and json_encode - why do you need this? Take a step back, and think about what you're going to use this array for, and why you can't just use SimpleXML itself. Look at the examples in the manual for how you could.
For instance, you want to list the organizers of each festival? Then you'd loop over like this:
$xmldoc =
'<music genre="electronic">
<festival name="Berlin">
<concert status="Not Started" date="24.03.2017">
<organizers>
<person name="V. Smith" id="130171"/>
</organizers>
</concert>
</festival>
</music>';
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xmldoc);
foreach ( $xml->festival as $festival ) {
echo '<h2>', (string)$festival['name'], '</h2>';
echo '<ul>';
foreach ( $festival->concert as $concert ) {
foreach ( $concert->organizers->person as $organizer ) {
echo '<li>', (string)$organizer['name'], '</li>';
}
}
}
If you still think an array that throws away half the structure of the XML is what you want, then use SimpleXML to create it:
function turn_simplexml_into_broken_array($element) {
// Handle elements with text content
// By the way, this will break if the element has text content
// as well as children or attributes. So will the JSON hack.
// Because XML doesn't fit neatly in an array.
$text_content = trim( (string)$element );
if ( strlen($text_content) > 0 ) {
return $text_content;
}
$array = [];
foreach ( $element->attributes() as $name => $value ) {
$array[$name] = (string)$value;
}
foreach ( $element->children() as $name => $value ) {
// Handle multiple child elements with the same name
// Of course, this means the structure will be different
// for concerts with one organizer that concerts with multiple
// which leaving the object as SimpleXML would have saved you from
if ( count($element->{$name}) > 1 ) {
$array[$name][] = turn_simplexml_into_broken_array($value);
}
else {
$array[$name] = turn_simplexml_into_broken_array($value);
}
}
return $array;
}
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xmldoc);
print_r(turn_simplexml_into_broken_array($xml));
Note that we're not "removing #attributes" here. We're taking the XML attributes, and putting them into an array, along with the child elements.
Obviously, you can hack around with this to better suit the particular XML you're working with, and the structure you want. At which point, ask yourself again why you need a generic function for this at all.