Group Arrays By Another Array? - php

Question

I'm trying to sort one array by another array. Both these arrays get their content from a form.
Here's my form code:
<form method="post" action="">
<div class="groupcontainer">
<br/><label>Group One:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="groupname[]" value="groupone" /><br/>
<br/><label>Variable Group One:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="variable[]" value="variableone" />
<input type="text" name="variable[]" value="variabletwo" />
</div>
<br/>
<div class="groupcontainer">
<br/><label>Group Two:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="groupname[]" value="grouptwo" /><br/>
<br/><label>Variable Group Two:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="variable[]" value="variablethree" />
<input type="text" name="variable[]" value="variablefour" />
</div>
<br/>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
Here's the PHP code:
<?php
if (!$_POST['submit'] == "") {
foreach($_POST['groupname'] as $groupname) {
$groupnum = 1;
foreach($_POST['variable'] as $variable) {
print "$".$groupname.$groupnum." = '".$variable."';<br/>";
$groupnum++;
}
print "$".$groupname." = array(";
for ($arrnum = 1; $arrnum <= count($_POST['variable']); $arrnum++) {
print "$".$groupname.$arrnum.", ";
}
print ");<br/><br/>";
}
}
?>
This is the result I get when I submit the form:
$groupone1 = '$variableone';
$groupone2 = '$variabletwo';
$groupone3 = '$variablethree';
$groupone4 = '$variablefour';
$groupone = array($groupone1, $groupone2, $groupone3, $groupone4, )
$grouptwo1 = '$variableone';
$grouptwo2 = '$variabletwo';
$grouptwo3 = '$variablethree';
$grouptwo4 = '$variablefour';
$grouptwo = array($grouptwo1, $grouptwo2, $grouptwo3, $grouptwo4, )
This is the result that I actually want:
$groupone1 = '$variableone';
$groupone2 = '$variabletwo';
$groupone = array($groupone1, $groupone2)
$grouptwo1 = '$variablethree';
$grouptwo2 = '$variablefour';
$grouptwo = array($grouptwo1, $grouptwo2)
The whole thing needs to be dynamic since I want to add as many groups and variables as I want.
I've been searching for an answer for days and already asked two people who didn't know an answer. Maybe you guys can help. Thanks!
Update:
Just to clarify a few points:
So basically I want to be able to add as many input forms as I want (I use jQuery for that) to create as many groups and variables as I want, for example like this:
$groupwuteva1 = 'hello';
$groupwuteva2 = 'bye':
$randomname1 = 'green';
$randomname2 = 'blue';
$randomname3 = 'red';
$blabla1 = 'abc';
$blabla2 = 'xyz';
$blabla3 = '123';
$blabla4 = 'bla';
Whatever I use as groupname will be used in array one, e.g. I call a group "Colors" and the variables I put into the form for that group are "blue", "red" and "green". Then I would get this code:
$colors1 = 'green';
$colors2 = 'blue';
$colors3 = 'red';
I hope this clairfies some questions. And thanks a ton for all responses so far!

Answer 1

You can take the group name as a container to store all associated variable values in it. And later, use variable variables and implode() function to process your html form.
HTML
<form method="post" action="">
<div class="groupcontainer">
<br/><label>Groupe One:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="groupname[]" value="groupone" /><br/>
<br/><label>Variable Group One:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="groupone[]" value="variableone" />
<input type="text" name="groupone[]" value="variabletwo" />
</div>
<br/>
<div class="groupcontainer">
<br/><label>Groupe Two:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="groupname[]" value="grouptwo" /><br/>
<br/><label>Variable Group One:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="grouptwo[]" value="variablethree" />
<input type="text" name="grouptwo[]" value="variablefour" />
</div>
<br/>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
PHP
if(isset($_POST['submit'])){
foreach($_POST['groupname'] as $value){
$arr = array();
$i = 1;
foreach($_POST[$value] as $v){
$var = $value . $i;
$$var = $v;
echo $var . " = " . $$var . "<br />";
$arr[] = $$var;
++$i;
}
$output = $value . " = array(" . implode(",", $arr) . ")";
echo $output . "<br /><br />";
}
}
Output:
groupone1 = variableone
groupone2 = variabletwo
groupone = array(variableone,variabletwo)
grouptwo1 = variablethree
grouptwo2 = variablefour
grouptwo = array(variablethree,variablefour)

Answer 2

try this form:
<form method="post" action="">
<?php foreach(array('groupone', 'grouptwo') as $num):?>
<div class="groupcontainer">
<br/><label>Groupe <?php echo $num;?>:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="groupname[]" value="<?php echo $num;?>" /><br/>
<br/><label>Variable Group <?php echo $num;?>:</label><br/>
<input type="text" name="variable[<?php echo $num;?>][]" value="<?php echo uniqid();?>" />
<input type="text" name="variable[<?php echo $num;?>][]" value="<?php echo uniqid();?>" />
</div>
<br/>
<?php endforeach;?>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
and code:
if ($_POST) {
foreach($_POST['groupname'] as $groupname) {
$$groupname = array();
foreach($_POST['variable'][$groupname] as $variable) {
${$groupname}[] = $variable;
}
}
var_dump($groupone);
var_dump($grouptwo);
}