Get each chekbox group values into separate variables upon form submission - php

Question

I have multiple checkbox groups, and once the form is submitted, I want each group of checkboxes that were selected to be added to their own variable.
This is the form:
<form action="" method="get">
<p>apple <input type="checkbox" value="apple" name="fruits[]" /></p>
<p>orange <input type="checkbox" value="orange" name="fruits[]" /></p>
<p>peach <input type="checkbox" value="peach" name="fruits[]" /></p>
<br>
<p>red <input type="checkbox" value="red" name="colors[]" /></p>
<p>green <input type="checkbox" value="green" name="colors[]" /></p>
<p>blue <input type="checkbox" value="blue" name="colors[]" /></p>
<br>
<p>chicken <input type="checkbox" value="chicken" name="meats[]" /></p>
<p>pork <input type="checkbox" value="pork" name="meats[]" /></p>
<p>lamb <input type="checkbox" value="lamb" name="meats[]" /></p>
<button>submit</button>
</form>
And this is my code:
$string = 'fruits,colors,meats';
$str_array = explode(',', $string);
foreach ($str_array as $value) {
if (isset($_GET[$value])) {
$group_name = $_GET[$value];
foreach ($group_name as $group_item) {
$group_string .= ' ' . $group_item;
}
}
}
echo $group_string;
With that code, if I choose for example the first checkbox in each group and hit submit, I will get the following value of $group_string = apple red chicken in one string.
What I get does make sense to me as per the code I wrote, but what I want is for each option group to have its own variable to which its values are asigned, so what I want is to get is the following (assuming I again chose the first option from each group):
$fruits = 'apple';
$colors = 'red';
$meats = 'chicken';
But I don't know how to rewrite it so I get that. Also, the number of options groups is not known upfront, it has to happen dynamically.

Answer 1

Ok, I took the liberty of rewriting part of your php for my convenience but here it is
your new and improved php file
<?php
// assume we know beforehand what we are looking for
$groups = explode(',','fruits,colors,meats');
foreach ($groups as $group) {
if (isset($_GET[$group])) {
$vv = array();
foreach ($_GET[$group] as $item) $vv[] = $item;
$$group = implode(' ',$vv);
}
}
var_dump($fruits,$colors,$meats);
?>
I used a construct in PHP called variable variables. This is actually an almost identical answer as the one #Lohardt gave. I hope this can help you out. If it doesn't then post me a comment

Answer 2

You could do something like:
<input type="checkbox" value="apple" name="groups[fruits][]" />
<input type="checkbox" value="apple" name="groups[colors][]" />
<input type="checkbox" value="apple" name="groups[meats][]" />
Your $_POST will look like this:
Array
(
[groups] => Array
(
[fruits] => Array
(
[0] => apple
)
[colors] => Array
(
[0] => red
)
)
)
And it should be simple to use a foreach loop to get the keys and values.
Edit: then you can assign the value to variables like this:
${$key} = $value;
and use it you would do any variable:
echo $color;