how to convert a string with brackets to an array in php - php

Question

I'm having a problem with this. I have a string that looks like this:
coilovers[strut_and_individual_components][complete_strut][][achse]
And i want to convert it to to array that looks like this:
[coilovers] => Array
(
[strut_and_individual_components] => Array
(
[complete_strut]=> Array
(
[1] => Array
(
[achse] => some_value
)
[2] => Array
(
[achse] => some_value
)
)
)
)
is it possible?

Answer 1

Here is a quick implementation of a parser that will attempt to parse this string:
$input = 'coilovers[strut_and_individual_components][complete_strut][][achse]';
$output = array();
$pointer = &$output;
while( ($index = strpos( $input, '[')) !== false) {
if( $index != 0) {
$key = substr( $input, 0, $index);
$pointer[$key] = array();
$pointer = &$pointer[$key];
$input = substr( $input, $index);
continue;
}
$end_index = strpos( $input, ']');
$array_key = substr( $input, $index + 1, $end_index - 1);
$pointer[$array_key] = array();
$pointer = &$pointer[$array_key];
$input = substr( $input, $end_index + 1);
}
print_r( $output);
Essentially, we are iterating the string to find matching [ and ] tags. When we do, we take the value within the brackets as $array_key and add that into the $output array. I use another variable $pointer by reference that is pointing to the original $output array, but as the iteration goes, $pointer points to the last element added to $output.
It produces:
Array
(
[coilovers] => Array
(
[strut_and_individual_components] => Array
(
[complete_strut] => Array
(
[] => Array
(
[achse] => Array
(
)
)
)
)
)
)
Note that I've left the implementation of [] (an empty array key) and setting the values in the last index (some_value) as an exercise to the user.

Answer 2

Well I've found an another answer for it and it looks like this:
private function format_form_data(array $form_values) {
$reformat_array = array();
$matches = array();
$result = null;
foreach($form_values as $value) {
preg_match_all("/\[(.*?)\]/", $value["name"], $matches);
$parsed_product_array = $this->parse_array($matches[1], $value["value"]);
$result = array_push($reformat_array, $parsed_product_array);
}
return $result;
}
private function parse_array(array $values, $value) {
$reformat = array();
$value_carrier_key = end($values);
foreach (array_reverse($values) as $arr) {
$set_value_carrier = array($arr => $reformat);
if($arr == $value_carrier_key) {
$set_value_carrier = array($arr => $value);
}
$reformat = empty($arr) ? array($reformat) : $set_value_carrier;
}
return $reformat;
}
where array $form_values is:
Array
(
[name] => '[coilovers][strut_and_individual_components][complete_strut][][achse]',
[value] => 'some_value'
)

Answer 3

No. If you evaluate the string you will get invalid PHP.
If you want to store a PHP Array as string and get it loaded back as PHP Array, have a look at serialize and unserialize functions.
Of course you can build an array from your string, but you'll have to write a parser.

Answer 4

The solution I propose:
function format_form_data(array $data) {
$matches = array();
$result = [];
foreach($data as $key => $value) {
preg_match_all("/\[(.*?)\]/", $key, $matches);
$matches = array_reverse($matches[1]);
$matches[] = substr( $key, 0, strpos($key, '['));;
foreach ($matches as $match) {
$value = [$match=>$value];
}
$result = array_replace_recursive($result, $value);
}
return $result;
}