How to get value from nested array using string - php

Question

I have an array like this:
$temp = array( '123' => array( '456' => array( '789' => '0' ) ),
'abc' => array( 'def' => array( 'ghi' => 'jkl' ) )
);
I have a string like this:
$address = '123_456_789';
Can I get value of $temp['123']['456']['789'] using above array $temp and string $address?
Is there any way to achieve this and is it good practice to use it?

Answer 1

This is a simple function that accepts an array and a string address where the keys are separated by any defined delimiter. With this approach, we can use a for-loop to iterate to the desired depth of the array, as shown below.
<?php
function delimitArray($array, $address, $delimiter="_") {
$address = explode($delimiter, $address);
$num_args = count($address);
$val = $array;
for ( $i = 0; $i < $num_args; $i++ ) {
// every iteration brings us closer to the truth
$val = $val[$address[$i]];
}
return $val;
}
$temp = array("123"=>array("456"=>array("789"=>"hello world")));
$address = "123_456_789";
echo delimitArray($temp,$address,"_");
?>

Answer 2

Hello if string $address = '123_456_789'; is your case then you can use explode function to split the string by using some delimeter and you can output your value
<?php
$temp = array('123' => array('456' => array('789' => '0')),
'abc' => array('def' => array('ghi' => 'jkl')),
);
$address = '123_456_789';
$addr = explode("_", $address);
echo $temp[$addr[0]][$addr[1]][$addr[2]];

Answer 3

Using this array library you can easily get element value by either converting your string to array of keys using explode:
Arr::get($temp, explode('_', $address))
or replacing _ with . to take advantage of dot notation access
Arr::get($temp, str_replace('_', '.', $address))
Another benefit of using this method is that you can set default fallback value to return if element with given keys does not exists in array.