PHP construct nested array from string - php

Question

I have data that looks like this:
1 Root Catalog
1/2 Main Website
1/2/4 Cold Beverages
1/2/4/19 Pop - Canned
1/2/4/20 Pop - Natural Low Calorie
1/2/4/21 Pop - Bottled - Large Plastic
1/2/4/22 Pop - Bottled - Small Plastic
And need to turn it into an array that looks like:
array(
1 => array(
'name' => 'Root Catalog',
2 => array(
'name' => 'Main Website',
4 => array(
'name' => 'Cold Beverages',
19 => array(
'name' => 'Pop - Canned'
)
/*more numbers here*/
)
)
)
)
I can't figure out how to assign the array to the parent array while maintaining data integrity.
The issue I'm encountering is that I can have between 1-n levels nested. I've tried exploding the string and reconstructing it using recursion, but it never turns out right. Any idea's I could try?
edit: Best Attempt so far:
foreach ($categories as $category) {
$paths = explode('/', $category->getPath());
$paths = array_reverse($paths);
$temp = array('name' => $category->getName());
foreach ($paths as $key => $value) {
$temp = array($value => $temp);
}
$data = array_merge($data, $temp);
}

Answer 1

$data = array(
'1' => 'Root Catalog',
'1/2' => 'Main Website',
'1/2/4' => 'Cold Beverages',
'1/2/4/19' => 'Pop - Canned',
'1/2/4/20' => 'Pop - Natural Low Calorie',
'1/2/4/21' => 'Pop - Bottled - Large Plastic',
'1/2/4/22' => 'Pop - Bottled - Small Plastic'
);
$out = array();
foreach($data as $route => $value) // take every element of $data
{
$path = explode('/', $route); // split the route into elements
$current = &$out; // get pointer to the root of the output array
foreach($path as $level) // traverse through the path
{
if (!isset($current[$level])) // if branch does not exist, create it
$current[$level] = array();
$current = &$current[$level]; // set current pointer to that branch
}
$current['name'] = $value; // set leaf at the end of the branch
}
print_r($out); // output result
Result:
Array
(
[1] => Array
(
[name] => Root Catalog
[2] => Array
(
[name] => Main Website
[4] => Array
(
[name] => Cold Beverages
[19] => Array
(
[name] => Pop - Canned
)
[20] => Array
(
[name] => Pop - Natural Low Calorie
)
[21] => Array
(
[name] => Pop - Bottled - Large Plastic
)
[22] => Array
(
[name] => Pop - Bottled - Small Plastic
)
)
)
)
)