PHP retry value to string - php

Question

I have this problem:
One string like:
$stringa = "array('name' => 'John')"
I want obtain : array('name' => 'John') for use in my code like array
Any helps? Thanks

Answer 1

Caution using eval...
Caution The eval() language construct is very dangerous because it
allows execution of arbitrary PHP code. Its use thus is discouraged.
If you have carefully verified that there is no other option than to
use this construct, pay special attention not to pass any user
provided data into it without properly validating it beforehand.
<?php
$stringa = "array('name' => 'John')";
$code = "\$a = " . $stringa . ";";
eval($code);
print_r($a);

Answer 2

Gouda Elalfy was on the right idea, but his solution simply made the whole string a single array value.
First, we need to remove the excess datatype information:
$slimString = substr($stringa,6);
$slimString = rtrim($slimString,")");
This now gives us a string of:
'name' => 'John'
So then the Keys and the values in the string need to be split up,
so break at => as so:
For multiple values in the string:
This method also includes the single quotes to limit catching punctuation commas (please note this method was screwed up by trim not being as effective as I'd have liked and requiring str_replace quotes instead).
$slimString = str_replace("', '","=>", $slimString);
Then
$slimStringParts = explode("=>", $slimString);
This will split on => (or ,) so that multiple values of array contents can be generated.
Then cycle through each of the array pieces, on the basis that the EVEN numbers (and zero) are the Keys and the ODD numbers are the values, also removing the quotes as well for each one,
I was originally using trim but for some reason trim was not working as fully as I expected. so instead reverted to st_replace
foreach($slimStringParts as $key => $part){
if(($key%2) == 0){
$part = str_replace("'","",$part);
$arrayOutput[$part] = str_replace("'","",$slimStringParts[$key+1]);
}
}
unset($key, $part);
The foreach only acts upon the even and zero values as referenced above, and they take the original key value + 1 as their contents.
The trim/str_replace removes the single quotes and looks untidy but this works for a string of one or more array values
And finally the Output:
print_r($arrayOutput);
Test with the original:
input : "array('name' => 'John')"
Output : Array ( [name ] => John )
Tested with a multivalue array string:
input : "array('name' => 'John', 'surname' => 'James', 'Ride' => 'horse')"
Output : Array ( [name ] => John [surname ] => James [Ride ] => horse )
Full code:
$stringa = "array('name' => 'John')";
$stringb = "array('name' => 'John', 'surname' => 'James', 'Ride' => 'horse')";
$slimString = substr($stringb,6);
$slimString = rtrim($slimString,")");
$slimString = str_replace("', '","=>", $slimString);
$slimStringParts = explode("=>", $slimString);
foreach($slimStringParts as $key => $part){
if(($key%2) == 0){
$part = str_replace("'","",$part);
$arrayOutput[$part] = str_replace("'","",$slimStringParts[$key+1]);
}
}
unset($key,$part);
print_r($arrayOutput);
exit;
Please note my trim() idea was what I wanted but that seems to be influenced by my page character encoding :-(

Answer 3

You can use eval() function.
But it's not recommanded.
http://php.net/manual/en/function.eval.php
Eval is unsafe, try to use it as temporary method and find a better solution.
Example :
$stringa="array('name' => 'John');";
$array = eval($stringa);