Accessing Multidimensional Array Values without recursive functions and/or loops - php

Question

I have index ponter, for example 5-1-key2-3.
And my array has its address:
array(
'5'=>array(
'1'=>array(
'key2'=>array(
'3'=>'here it is - 5-1-key2-3 key address'
)
)
)
)
which equals to
$arr[5][1][key2][3]='here it is - 5-1-key2-3 key address';
I know I can build the recursive function to access this value.
But I'm curious is it possible to achieve this without recursion and building user's functions and/or loops.
Probably it can be done with variable variables feature in php.

Answer 1

You can use this code
$keys = explode('-', '5-1-key2-3');
// start from the root of the array and progress through the elements
$temp = $arr;
foreach ($keys as $key_value)
{
$temp = $temp[$key_value];
}
// this will give you $arr["5"]["1"]["key2"]["3"] element value
echo $temp;

Answer 2

modifications after I got better understanding of the question I think you can do it with eval:
<?php
function getArrValuesFromString($string, $arr) {
$stringArr = '$arr[\'' . str_replace('-', "']['", $string) . '\']';
eval("\$t = " . $stringArr . ";");
return $t;
}
$arr[5][1]['key2'][3] = '1here it is - 5-1-key2-3 key address';
$string = '5-1-key2-3';
echo getArrValuesFromString($string, $arr); //1here it is - 5-1-key2-3 key address

Answer 3

EDIT :
Here is a way I deprecate so much, because of security, but if you are sure of what you are doing :
$key = 'a-b-c-d';
$array = <<your array>>;
$keys = explode('-', $key);
// we can surely do something better like checking for each one if its a string or int then adding or not the `'`
$final_key = "['".implode("']['", $keys)."']";
$result = eval("return \$array{$final_key};");
There is a class I wrote inspired from something I read on the web don't really remember where but anyway, this can helps you :
/**
* Class MultidimensionalHelper
*
* Some help about multidimensional arrays
* like dynamic array_key_exists, set, and get functions
*
* #package Core\Utils\Arrays
*/
class MultidimensionalHelper
{
protected $keySeparator = '.';
/**
* #return string
*/
public function keySeparator()
{
return $this->keySeparator;
}
/**
* #param string $keySeparator
*/
public function setKeySeparator($keySeparator)
{
$this->keySeparator = $keySeparator;
}
/**
* Multidimensional array dynamic array_key_exists
*
* #param $key String Needle
* #param $array Array Haystack
* #return bool True if found, false either
*/
public function exists($key, $array)
{
$keys = explode($this->keySeparator(), $key);
$tmp = $array;
foreach($keys as $k)
{
if(!array_key_exists($k, $tmp))
{
return false;
}
$tmp = $tmp[$k];
}
return true;
}
/**
* Multidimensional array dynamic getter
*
*
* #param $key String Needle
* #param $array Array Haystack
* #return mixed Null if key not exists or the content of the key
*/
public function get($key, $array)
{
$keys = explode($this->keySeparator(), $key);
$lkey = array_pop($keys);
$tmp = $array;
foreach($keys as $k)
{
if(!isset($tmp[$k]))
{
return null;
}
$tmp = $tmp[$k];
}
return $tmp[$lkey];
}
/**
* Multidimensional array dynamic setter
*
* #param String $key
* #param Mixed $value
* #param Array $array Array to modify
* #param Bool $return
* #return Array If $return is set to TRUE (bool), this function
* returns the modified array instead of directly modifying it.
*/
public function set($key, $value, &$array)
{
$keys = explode($this->keySeparator(), $key);
$lkey = array_pop($keys);
$tmp = &$array;
foreach($keys as $k)
{
if(!isset($tmp[$k]) || !is_array($tmp[$k]))
{
$tmp[$k] = array();
}
$tmp = &$tmp[$k];
}
$tmp[$lkey] = $value;
unset($tmp);
}
}
Then use :
$MDH = new MultidimensionalHelper();
$MDH->setKeySeparator('-');
$arr = [
'a' => [
'b' => [
'c' => 'good value',
],
'c' => 'wrong value',
],
'b' => [
'c' => 'wrong value',
]
];
$key = 'a-b-c';
$val = $MDH->get($key, $arr);
var_dump($val);
Here is the content of the get function if you don't find it in Class code :
public function get($key, $array)
{
$keys = explode($this->keySeparator(), $key);
$lkey = array_pop($keys);
$tmp = $array;
foreach($keys as $k)
{
if(!isset($tmp[$k]))
{
return null;
}
$tmp = $tmp[$k];
}
return $tmp[$lkey];
}