How can I access a multidimensional array element by path? [duplicate] - php

Question

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Closed 10 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
PHP: Use a string as an array index path to retreive a value
I have an array like so:
$array['image']['comment'] = 'something';
$array['image']['tag'] = 'happy';
$array['image']['colors']['blue'] = '12345';
If I have the path to each element in a string, how can I set or get the array value?
e.g where $path = 'image/colors/blue'; the below function should return 12345
function get_array($array, $path)
{
//what goes here?
}
function set_array($array, $path, $value)
{
//what goes here?
}

Answer 1

Try this:
$arr = array('a' => 'A', 'b' => array('c' => 'C', 'd' => array('e'=>'E')));
function read_array($array, $path)
{
if($pos = strpos($path, '/') !== false){
$key = substr($path, 0, $pos);
$restOfKey = substr($path, $pos + 1);
return read_array($array[$key], $restOfKey);
} else {
$key = $path;
return $array[$key];
}
}
echo read_array($arr, 'a'); //A
echo read_array($arr, 'b/c'); //C
echo read_array($arr, 'b/d/e'); //E
You should of course add error checking and all.

Answer 2

Try this. Very basic but it might provide you a jump off point:
$array['image']['comment'] = 'something';
$array['image']['tag'] = 'happy';
$array['image']['colors']['blue'] = '12345';
function get_array($array, $path) {
if(strpos('/', $path) > 0) {
list($first, $second, $third) = explode('/', $path);
return $array[$first][$second][$third];
}
}
get_array($array, 'image/colours/blue');

Answer 3

You could just call split or explode on the path string and insert the individual values into each dimension. This isn't unbounded, but i'm assuming you have a rough idea with this example of the depth this could go.
function getPathVal($array, $path) {
$path_array = explode("/", $path);
$cnt = count($path_array);
if ($cnt == 3) {
return $array[$path_array[0]][$path_array[1]][$path_array[2]];
} else if ($cnt == 2) {
return $array[$path_array[0]][$path_array[1]];
} else if ($cnt == 1) {
return $array[$path_array[0]];
} else {
return "";
}
}