Convert array index in a custom string layout? - php

Question

I have an array called $context with this structure:
array(2) {
[0]=>
array(2) {
["name"]=>
string(6) "Foo"
["username"]=>
string(6) "Test"
}
[1]=>
array(2) {
["name"]=>
string(4) "John"
["username"]=>
string(3) "Doe"
}
}
I want convert it into this string:
string 1:
0: array(
'name' => 'Foo',
'username' => 'Test',
)
string 2:
1: array(
'name' => 'John',
'username' => 'Doe',
)
How you can see I want save the current index in the iteration and display the array content formatted as 'name' and 'username' in a single line. I already tried with this code:
$export = '';
foreach($context as $key => $value)
{
$export .= "{$key}: ";
print_r($value);
$export .= preg_replace(array(
'/=>\s+([a-zA-Z])/im',
'/array\(\s+\)/im',
'/^ |\G /m'
), array(
'=> $1',
'array()',
' '
), str_replace('array (', 'array(', var_export($value, true)));
print_r($export);
$export .= PHP_EOL;
}
return str_replace(array('\\\\', '\\\''), array('\\', '\''), rtrim($export));
but I'm looking for a more optimized solution, any suggest?

Answer 1

This is my code:
$context = [['name'=>'Foo','username'=>'Test'],['name'=>'John','username'=>'Doe']];
$schema = " '%s' => '%s'";
$lineBreak = PHP_EOL;
foreach( $context as $idx => $array )
{
$lines = array();
foreach( $array as $key => $val )
{
$lines[] = sprintf( $schema, $key, $val );
}
$output = "{$idx}: array({$lineBreak}".implode( ",{$lineBreak}", $lines )."{$lineBreak})";
echo $output.$lineBreak;
}
3v4l.org demo
It will works independently from the number of elements in sub-arrays
I have used classic built-in function sprintf to format each array row: see more.
You can change $lineBreak with you preferred endLine character;
In the above example, each string is printed, but (you have a return in your function, so i think inside a function), you can modify in this way:
$output = array();
foreach( $context as $idx => $array )
{
(...)
$output[] = "{$idx}: array({$lineBreak}".implode( ",{$lineBreak}", $lines )."{$lineBreak})";
}
to have an array filled with formatted string.
You can easly transform it in a function:
function contextToString( $context, $schema=Null, $lineBreak=PHP_EOL )
{
if( !$schema ) $schema = " '%s' => '%s'";
$output = array();
foreach( $context as $idx => $array )
{
$lines = array();
foreach( $array as $key => $val )
{
$lines[] = sprintf( $schema, $key, $val );
}
$output[] = "{$idx}: array({$lineBreak}".implode( ",{$lineBreak}", $lines )."{$lineBreak})";
}
return implode( $lineBreak, $output );
}
to change each time the schema and the line break.
PS: I see that in you code there is a comma also at the end of the last element of eache array; thinking it was a typo, I have omitted it
Edit: I have forgot the comma, added-it.
Edit 2: Added complete function example.
Edit 3: Added link to sprintf PHP page

Answer 2

Try this with personnal toString
$a = array(array("name"=>"Foo", "username"=>"Test"), array("name"=>"John", "username"=>"Doe"));
function toString($array){
$s = ""; $i=0;
foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
$s.= $key."=>".$value;
if($i < count($array)-1)
$s.=",";
$i++;
}
return $s;
}
$result = array();
$index = 0;
foreach ($a as $value) {
array_push($result, $index. " : array(" . toString($value).")");
$index ++;
}
var_dump($result);
And the result :
array (size=2)
0 => string '0 : array(name=>Foo,username=>Test)' (length=35)
1 => string '1 : array(name=>John,username=>Doe)' (length=35)
The result is in an array but you can change and make what you want
But you can also use json_encode :
$result = array();
$index = 0;
foreach ($a as $value) {
array_push($result, $index. " : array(" . json_encode($value).")");
$index ++;
}
var_dump($result);
With this result :
array (size=2)
0 => string '0 : array({"name":"Foo","username":"Test"})' (length=43)
1 => string '1 : array({"name":"John","username":"Doe"})' (length=43)

Answer 3

Simplified solution with strrpos,substr_replace and var_export:
$arr = [
array(
'name' => 'John',
'username' => 'Doe'
),
array(
'name' => 'Mike',
'username' => 'Tyson'
)
];
/*****************/
$strings = [];
foreach($arr as $k => $v){
$dump = var_export($v, true);
$last_comma_pos = strrpos($dump,",");
$cleared_value = substr_replace($dump, "", $last_comma_pos, 1);
$strings[] = $k.": ".$cleared_value;
}
/*****************/
// Now $strings variable contains all the needed strings
echo "<pre>";
foreach($strings as $str){
echo $str . "\n";
}
// the output:
0: array (
'name' => 'John',
'username' => 'Doe'
)
1: array (
'name' => 'Mike',
'username' => 'Tyson'
)