how do I pass many php variables to python - php

Question

I am using the following code to initiate a python script and pass a php variable to it.
$tmp = exec("python path/to/pythonfile.py $myVariable $mySecondVariable", $output);
This works very well, my issue is that I will need to pass 100+ variables to the python script. I don't want this exec line to become extremely long and unmanageable. I have also explored passing a php array instead of a variable with the following code:
$checked = array(
"key1" => "1"
"key2" => "1"
"key3" => "1"
);
$checkedJson = json_encode($checked);
$tmp = exec("python path/to/pythonfile.py $myVariable $checkedJson", $output);
With this I have been unable to decode the JSON on the python side. I have been able to do a basic print of the array variable(undecoded) in python, but it gives every individual character as a new array value. ie [0] = k, [1] = e, [2] = y, [3] = 1, etc...
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Just to be clear,I am looking for a simpler method than encoding and decoding an array. Is there a way I can format the exec line to allow for multiple variables.

Answer 1

Store your PHP variables within a temporary text file then use python to read that file.
Simple and effective.
Assuming Scripts are in the same directory
PHP Portion
long version (self contained script - skip to the short version below if you only want the code snippet)
<?php
#Establish an array with all parameters you'd like to pass.
#Either fill it manually or with a loop, ie:
#Loop below creates 100 dummy variables with this pattern.
#You'd need to come up with a way yourself to fill a single array to pass
#$variable1 = '1';
#$variable2 = '2';
#$variable3 = '3';
#....
#$variableN = 'N';
#...
for ($i=1; $i<=100; $i++) {
${'variable'.$i} = $i;
}
#Create/Open a file and prepare it for writing
$tempFile = "temp.dat";
$fh = fopen($tempFile, 'w') or die("can't open file");
#let's say N=100
for ($i=1; $i<=100; $i++) {
#for custom keys
$keyname = 'Key'.$i;
# using a variable variable here to grab $variable1 ... $variable2 ... $variableN ... $variable100
$phpVariablesToPass[$keyname] = ${'variable'.$i} + 1000;
}
#phpVariablesToPass looks like this:
# [Key1] => 1001 [Key2] => 1002 [Key3] => 1003 [KeyN] = > (1000+N)
#now write to the file for each value.
#You could modify the fwrite string to whatever you'd like
foreach ($phpVariablesToPass as $key=>$value) {
fwrite($fh, $value."\n");
}
#close the file
fclose($fh);
?>
or in short, assuming $phpVariablesToPass is an array filled with your values:
#Create/Open a file and prepare it for writing
$tempFile = "temp.dat";
$fh = fopen($tempFile, 'w') or die("can't open file");
foreach ($phpVariablesToPass as $key=>$value) {
fwrite($fh, $value."\n");
}
fclose($fh);
Python Snippet to Grab the Data
lines = [line.strip() for line in open('temp.dat')]
the variable lines now contains all of your php data as a python list.