How to create multidimensional PHP array from this string? - php

Question

I have a string I would like to separate and make a multidimensional array out of. The string looks like this:
$string = "item-size:large,color:blue,material:cotton,item-size:medium,color:red,material:silk,";
Unfortunately, I have no control over how the string is put together, which is why I'm trying to make this array.
My goal is to make an array like this:
$item[1]['color'] // = blue
$item[2]['material'] // = silk
So, here's what I've done:
$item = array();
$i=0; // I know this is messy
$eachitem = explode("item-",$string);
array_shift($eachitem); // get rid of the first empty item
foreach ($eachitem as $values) {
$i++; // Again, very messy
$eachvalue = explode(",",$values);
array_pop($eachvalue); // get rid of the last comma before each new item
foreach ($eachvalue as $key => $value) {
$item[$i][$key] = $value;
}
}
I'm obviously lost with this... any suggestions?

Answer 1

You're mostly there. Just replace your inner foreach with
foreach ($eachvalue as $value) {
$properties = explode(':', $value);
$item[$i][$properties[0]] = $properties[1];
}

Answer 2

You're close, this is how I would do it:
$string = "item-size:large,color:blue,material:cotton,item-size:medium,color:red,material:silk,";
$substr = explode("item-", $string);
$items = array();
foreach ($substr as $string) {
$subitems = array();
$pairs = explode(",", $string);
foreach ($pairs as $pair) {
list($key, $value) = explode(":", $pair, 2);
$subitems[$key] = $value;
}
$items[] = $subitems;
}
var_dump($items);
Using list here is great :) Do note that you would need the extra count limiter in explode else you might lose data if there are more :.

Answer 3

$array = array();
$string = explode(',', $string);
foreach($string as $part):
$part = trim($part);
if(strlen($part) < 3) continue;
$part = explode(':', $part);
$array[$part[0]] = $part[1];
endforeach;

Answer 4

$string = "item-size:large,color:blue,material:cotton,item-size:medium,color:red,material:silk,";
$num_attr = 3;
$item = array();
$i=$x=0;
foreach(explode(',', trim($string,',')) as $attr)
{
list($key, $value) = explode(':', $attr);
$item[$x+=($i%$num_attr==0?1:0)][$key] = $value;
$i++;
}
Set the $num_attr to the number of item attributes in the string (this will allow adjustments in the future if they grow/shrink). The trim inside the foreach is removing ay "empty" data like the last comma (it will also remove a empty first comma if one ever shows up). The crazy looking $item[$x+=($i%$num_attr==0?1:0)] is taking the modulus of the counter / number of attributes which when it is 0 that means we are on a new product line so we add 1 to x which populates the item number index, if the modulus returns a number then we know we are on the same product so we add 0 which doesn't change the items index so that attribute is added on to the same item.