Echo a value from an array based on function parameters - php

Question

I need to be able to echo a value from a private property in one of my classes if a method is called within the class. It's a little tricky to explain so let me demostrate and hopefully someone can fill in the blank for me :)
<?php
class test {
private $array['teachers']['classes'][23] = "John";
public function __construct($required_array) {
$this->array['teachers']['classes'][23] = "John";
$this->array['students'][444] = "Mary";
$this->echo_array($required_array);
}
public function echo_array($array) {
// Echo the value from the private $this->array;
// remembering that the array I pass can have either
// 1 - 1000 possible array values which needs to be
// appended to the search.
}
}
// Getting the teacher:
$test = new test(array('teachers','classes',23));
// Getting the student:
$test = new test(array('students',444));
?>
Is this possible?

Answer 1

$tmp = $this->array;
foreach ($array as $key) {
$tmp = $tmp[$key];
}
// $tmp === 'John'
return $tmp; // never echo values but only return them

Answer 2

An other approach to get value;
class Foo {
private $error = false,
$stack = array(
'teachers' => array(
'classes' => array(
23 => 'John',
24 => 'Jack',
)
)
);
public function getValue() {
$query = func_get_args();
$stack = $this->stack;
$result = null;
foreach ($query as $i) {
if (!isset($stack[$i])) {
$result = null;
break;
}
$stack = $stack[$i];
$result = $stack;
}
if (null !== $result) {
return $result;
}
// Optional
// trigger_error("$teacher -> $class -> $number not found `test` class", E_USER_NOTICE);
// or
$this->error = true;
}
public function isError() {
return $this->error;
}
}
$foo = new Foo();
$val = $foo->getValue('teachers', 'classes', 24); // Jack
// $val = $foo->getValue('teachers', 'classes'); // array: John, Jack
// $val = $foo->getValue('teachers', 'classes', 25); // error
if (!$foo->isError()) {
print_r($val);
} else {
print 'Value not found!';
}