Key Value Array From String - php

Question

I have a key value pair string that I would like to convert to a functional array. So that I can reference the values using their key. Right now I have this:
$Array = "'Type'=>'Honda', 'Color'=>'Red'";
$MyArray = array($Array);
This is not bringing back a functional key/value array. My key value pairs are in a variable string which means the => is part of the string and i think this is where my problem is. Any help would be appreciated. All i am trying to do is convert the string to a functional key/value pair where I can grab the values using the key. My data is in a string so please don't reply with the answer "take them out of the string." I am aware that this will work:
$MyArray = array('Type'=>'Honda', 'Color'=>'Red');
But my probem is that the the data is already in the form of a string. Thank you for any help.

Answer 1

There is no direct way to do this. As such, you'll need to write a custom function to build the keys and values for each element.
An example specification for the custom function:
Use explode() to split each element based on the comma.
Iterate over the result and:
explode() on =>
Remove unnecessary characters, i.e. single quotes
Store the first element as the key and the second element as the value
Return the array.
Note: if your strings contain delimiters this will be more challenging.

Answer 2

You do need to "take them out of the string", as you say. But you don't have to do it manually. The other answer uses explode; that's a fine method. I'll show you another - what I think is the easiest way is to use preg_match_all() (documentation), like this:
$string = "'Type'=>'Honda', 'Color'=>'Red'";
$array = array();
preg_match_all("/'(.+?)'=>'(.+?)'/", $string, $matches);
foreach ($matches[1] as $i => $key) {
$array[$key] = $matches[2][$i];
}
var_dump($array);

Answer 3

You need to parse the string and extract the data:
$string = "'Type'=>'Honda', 'Color'=>'Red'";
$elements = explode(",",$string);
$keyValuePairs = array();
foreach($elements as $element){
$keyValuePairs[] = explode("=>",$element);
}
var_dump($keyValuePairs);
Now you can create your on array using the $keyValuePairs array.

Answer 4

Here is an example of one way you can do it -
$Array = "'Type'=>'Honda', 'Color'=>'Red'";
$realArray = explode(',',$Array); // get the items that will be in the new array
$newArray = array();
foreach($realArray as $value) {
$arrayBit = explode('=>', $value); // split each item
$key = str_replace('\'', '', $arrayBit[0]); // clean up
$newValue = str_replace('\'', '', $arrayBit[1]); // clean up
$newArray[$key] = $newValue; // place the new item in the new array
}
print_r($newArray); // just to see the new array
echo $newArray['Type']; // calls out one element
This could be placed into a function that could be extended so each item gets cleaned up properly (instead of the brute force method shown here), but demonstrates the basics.