php - shortcut for creating dynamic array with meaningful key names - php

Question

I have some logic that builds a multi-dimensional array based on matches found in a regex. I call the explode function,using a delimiter.
Everything works and my array looks like this:
Array (
[0] =>
Array (
[0] => A1
[1] => 100/1000T
[2] => No
[3] => Yes
[4] => Down
[5] => 1000FDx
[6] => Auto
[7] => off
[8] => 0
)
[1] => Array (
[0] => A2
[1] => 100/1000T
[2] => No
[3] => Yes
[4] => Down
[5] => 1000FDx
[6] => Auto
[7] => off
[8] => 0
) etc.etc...
In order to keep the code in the front end "dumb", i want to change the keys from numbers to strings that represent what the values are. These strings will be used as column headings in a table. So for example:
Array (
[0] =>
Array (
[port] => A1
[Type] => 100/1000T
[Alert] => No
[Enabled] => Yes
[Status] => Down
[Mode] => 1000FDx
[MDIMode] => Auto
[FlowCtrl] => off
[BcastLimit] => 0
)
[1] => Array (
[port] => A2
[Type] => 100/1000T
[Alert] => No
[Enabled] => Yes
[Status] => Down
[Mode] => 1000FDx
[MDIMode] => Auto
[FlowCtrl] => off
[BcastLimit] => 0
) etc.etc...
Here's the code that generates this array:
$portdetailsArray = array();
foreach ($data as $portdetails) {
$pattern = '/(\s+)([0-9a-z]*)(\s+)(100\/1000T|10|\s+)(\s*)(\|)(\s+)(\w+)(\s+)(\w+)(\s+)(\w+)(\s+)(1000FDx|\s+)(\s*)(\w+)(\s*)(\w+|\s+)(\s*)(0)/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $portdetails, $matches)) {
$replacement = '$2~$4~$8~$10~$12~$14~$16~$18~$20';
$portdetails= preg_replace($pattern, $replacement, $portdetails);
array_push($portdetailsArray, explode('~',$portdetails));
}
}
I guess instead of using the explode function, I can manually loop through my string. Each time I find a "~", i know it's the start of a new field so i can add they key /value pair manually.
But I was just wondering if anyone had ideas on other ways to do this.
Thanks.

Answer 1

To reply to your original question, you could use the array_combine function, to replace the keys.
$row = explode('~',$portdetails);
$row = array_combine(array(
'port',
'Type',
'Alert',
'Enabled',
'Status',
'Mode',
'MDIMode',
'FlowCtrl',
'BcastLimit'), $row);
But even better, you should use the clearer (verbose is clearer in this case)
if (preg_match($pattern, $portdetails, $matches)) {
array_push($portdetailsArray, array(
'port' => $matches[2],
'Type' => $matches[4],
'Alert' => $matches[8],
'Enabled' => $matches[10],
'Status' => $matches[12],
'Mode' => $matches[14],
'MDIMode' => $matches[16],
'FlowCtrl' => $matches[18],
'BcastLimit' => $matches[20]));
}