Query string like parameters regex - php

Question

From a text like:
category=[123,456,789], subcategories, id=579, not_in_category=[111,333]
I need a regex to get something like:
$params[category][0] = 123;
$params[category][1] = 456;
$params[category][2] = 789;
$params[subcategories] = ; // I just need to know that this exists
$params[id] = 579;
$params[not_category][0] = 111;
$params[not_category][1] = 333;
Thanks everyone for the help.
PS
As you suggested, I clarify that the structure and the number of items may change.
Basically the structure is:
key=value, key=value, key=value, ...
where value can be:
a single value (e.g. category=123 or postID=123 or mykey=myvalue, ...)
an "array" (e.g. category=[123,456,789])
a "boolean" where the TRUE value is an assumption from the fact that "key" exists in the array (e.g. subcategories)

Answer 1

This method should be flexible enough:
$str = 'category=[123,456,789], subcategories, id=579, not_in_category=[111,333]';
$str = preg_replace('#,([^0-9 ])#',', $1',$str); //fix for string format with no spaces (count=10,paginate,body_length=300)
preg_match_all('#(.+?)(,[^0-9]|$)#',$str,$sections); //get each section
$params = array();
foreach($sections[1] as $param)
{
list($key,$val) = explode('=',$param); //Put either side of the "=" into variables $key and $val
if(!is_null($val) && preg_match('#\[([0-9,]+)\]#',$val,$match)>0)
{
$val = explode(',',$match[1]); //turn the comma separated numbers into an array
}
$params[$key] = is_null($val) ? '' : $val;//Use blank string instead of NULL
}
echo '<pre>'.print_r($params,true).'</pre>';
var_dump(isset($params['subcategories']));
Output:
Array
(
[category] => Array
(
[0] => 123
[1] => 456
[2] => 789
)
[subcategories] =>
[id] => 579
[not_in_category] => Array
(
[0] => 111
[1] => 333
)
)
bool(true)
Alternate (no string manipulation before process):
$str = 'count=10,paginate,body_length=300,rawr=[1,2,3]';
preg_match_all('#(.+?)(,([^0-9,])|$)#',$str,$sections); //get each section
$params = array();
foreach($sections[1] as $k => $param)
{
list($key,$val) = explode('=',$param); //Put either side of the "=" into variables $key and $val
$key = isset($sections[3][$k-1]) ? trim($sections[3][$k-1]).$key : $key; //Fetch first character stolen by previous match
if(!is_null($val) && preg_match('#\[([0-9,]+)\]#',$val,$match)>0)
{
$val = explode(',',$match[1]); //turn the comma separated numbers into an array
}
$params[$key] = is_null($val) ? '' : $val;//Use blank string instead of NULL
}
echo '<pre>'.print_r($params,true).'</pre>';
Another alternate: full re-format of string before process for safety
$str = 'count=10,paginate,body_length=300,rawr=[1, 2,3] , name = mike';
$str = preg_replace(array('#\s+#','#,([^0-9 ])#'),array('',', $1'),$str); //fix for varying string formats
preg_match_all('#(.+?)(,[^0-9]|$)#',$str,$sections); //get each section
$params = array();
foreach($sections[1] as $param)
{
list($key,$val) = explode('=',$param); //Put either side of the "=" into variables $key and $val
if(!is_null($val) && preg_match('#\[([0-9,]+)\]#',$val,$match)>0)
{
$val = explode(',',$match[1]); //turn the comma separated numbers into an array
}
$params[$key] = is_null($val) ? '' : $val;//Use blank string instead of NULL
}
echo '<pre>'.print_r($params,true).'</pre>';

Answer 2

You can use JSON also, it's native in PHP : http://php.net/manual/fr/ref.json.php
It will be more easy ;)

Answer 3

<?php
$subject = "category=[123,456,789], subcategories, id=579, not_in_category=[111,333]";
$pattern = '/category=\[(.*?)\,(.*?)\,(.*?)\]\,\s(subcategories),\sid=(.*?)\,\snot_in_category=\[(.*?)\,(.*?)\]/';
preg_match($pattern, $subject, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, 3);
print_r($matches);
?>
I think this will get you the matches out... didn't actually test it but it might be a good starting point.
Then you just need to push the matches to the correct place in the array you need. Also test if the subcategories string exists with strcmp or something...
Also, notice that I assumed your subject string has that fixe dtype of structure... if it is changing often, you'll need much more than this...

Answer 4

$str = 'category=[123,456,789], subcategories, id=579, not_in_category=[111,333]';
$main_arr = preg_split('/(,\s)+/', $str);
$params = array();
foreach( $main_arr as $value) {
$pos = strpos($value, '=');
if($pos === false) {
$params[$value] = null;
} else {
$index_part = substr($value, 0, $pos);
$value_part = substr($value, $pos+1, strlen($value));
$match = preg_match('/\[(.*?)\]/', $value_part,$xarr);
if($match) {
$inner_arr = preg_split('/(,)+/', $xarr[1]);
foreach($inner_arr as $v) {
$params[$index_part][] = $v;
}
} else {
$params[$index_part] = $value_part;
}
}
}
print_r( $params );
Output :
Array
(
[category] => Array
(
[0] => 123
[1] => 456
[2] => 789
)
[subcategories] =>
[id] => 579
[not_in_category] => Array
(
[0] => 111
[1] => 333
)
)