PHP turn string into php post indexes - php

Question

I am trying to figure out the best way to use dot notation when passing in a key or set of keys into a function and getting that post value.
Example
shipping.first_name
What it looks like in actual $_POST array:
$_POST[shipping][first_name] = 'some value'
I would like to be able to pass in (as a parameter) the string, and have the function return the post value.
function get_post($str = NULL){
return $_POST[$key1][$key1]..etc.
}
Current attempt (working as intended, but need to put into $_POST):
From: SO Question
function assignArrayByPath(&$arr, $path) {
$keys = explode('.', $path);
while ($key = array_shift($keys)) {
$arr = &$arr[$key];
}
}
$output = array();
assignArrayByPath($output, $str);
This produces an array of:
Array ( [shipping] => Array ( [first_name] => ) )
I would like then to do something like this:
return isset($_POST.$output) ? true : false;
So how do I take that array created from the period separated string and check if it exists in POST?
I think this might be a duplicate, but I am not positive. I apologize in advance if it is. Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

See Laravel array_set implement http://laravel.com/api/source-function-array_set.html#319
/**
* Set an array item to a given value using "dot" notation.
*
* If no key is given to the method, the entire array will be replaced.
*
* #param array $array
* #param string $key
* #param mixed $value
* #return array
*/
function array_set(&$array, $key, $value)
{
if (is_null($key)) return $array = $value;
$keys = explode('.', $key);
while (count($keys) > 1)
{
$key = array_shift($keys);
// If the key doesn't exist at this depth, we will just create an empty array
// to hold the next value, allowing us to create the arrays to hold final
// values at the correct depth. Then we'll keep digging into the array.
if ( ! isset($array[$key]) || ! is_array($array[$key]))
{
$array[$key] = array();
}
$array =& $array[$key];
}
$array[array_shift($keys)] = $value;
return $array;
}
Check exists you can see array_get http://laravel.com/api/source-function-array_get.html#224
/**
* Get an item from an array using "dot" notation.
*
* #param array $array
* #param string $key
* #param mixed $default
* #return mixed
*/
function array_get($array, $key, $default = null)
{
if (is_null($key)) return $array;
if (isset($array[$key])) return $array[$key];
foreach (explode('.', $key) as $segment)
{
if ( ! is_array($array) || ! array_key_exists($segment, $array))
{
return value($default);
}
$array = $array[$segment];
}
return $array;
}