Insert multidimensional array information into database - php

Question

This seems like it would have a really easy solution...but I've had a hard time figuring it out. I need an array to go into a database. For example:
$usa = array(
'idaho' => array(
county1 => array(
'pocatello', 'arimo', 'downey'
),
county2 => array(
'bear', 'cuprum', 'mesa'
)
'iowa' => array(
county1 => array(
'des moines', 'adel', 'desoto'
),
county2 => array(
'douglas', 'grant', 'jasper'
)
);
I tried this method of inserting into the database:
foreach($usa as $state => $county){
foreach($county as $name => $city){
$s=$state;
$county_name = strtolower($name);
$city = strtolower($city);
$us = "INSERT INTO us
SET state='{$s}',county='{$county_name}',city='{$city}'
";
$us_result = mysql_query($us,$connection);
}
}
I believe the problem is the foreach (passing the state variable into the second foreach loop). I have tried this a number of different ways. Thanks in advance for your help!
***Note: everything works great when I remove the $s=$state variable and the state='{$s}' portion of the insert. I still cant get it to insert the state

Answer 1

There are two major problems.
First, your array isn't delimited properly and it's better to use a single or double quote for the county names, which you are referring to as strings anyway:
$usa = array(
'idaho' => array(
'county1'=>array(
'pocatello', 'arimo', 'downey'
),
'county2'=>array(
'bear', 'cuprum', 'mesa'
)),
'iowa' => array(
'county1'=>array(
'des moines', 'adel', 'desoto'
),
'county2'=>array(
'douglas', 'grant', 'jasper'
))
);
Secondly, there should be one more foreach loop to account for city names:
foreach($usa as $state => $county){
foreach($county as $name => $city){
foreach ($city as $cityname) {
$s = $state;
$county_name = strtolower($name);
$city = strtolower($cityname);
$us = "INSERT INTO us SET state='{$s}',county='{$county_name}',city='{$city}'";
echo $us.'<br>';
}
}
}
Hope this helps!

Answer 2

First. As #itsmeee stated, you were missing one more foreach that iterates through the array of cities in that county. Besides that, your input array is missing 2 close parens to wrap the array of data per state.
If you fix that I would just do:
$us = "INSERT INTO us (state, county, city) VALUES ";
$values = array();
foreach($usa as $state => $county){
foreach($county as $name => $cities){
foreach($cities as $city){
$county_name = strtolower($name);
$city = strtolower($city);
$values[] = "('{$state}','{$county_name}','{$city}')";
}
}
}
$us .= join(',',$values);
$us_result = mysql_query($us,$connection);
This would build the insert string and do all the inserts in one shot. You could also do individual inserts but for a data set this small doing one large insert is more efficient.
Good Luck!

Answer 3

Your INSERT query is incorrect.
Try this:
$us = "INSERT INTO us (state, county, city) VALUES ('" . mysql_real_escape_string ($s) . "', '" . mysql_real_escape_string ($county_name) . "', '" . mysql_real_escape_string ($city) . "')";

Answer 4

Seems like you've missed one more foreach:
foreach($county as $name => $cities) {
foreach ($cities as $city) {
....