How to setup a PHP multidimensional array and declare the array keys? - php

Question

I need some help setting up a PHP array. I get a little lost with multidimensional arrays.
Right now, I have an array with multiple products as follows:
If I do: print_r($products['1']); I get:
Array ( [0] => size:large [1] => color:blue [2] => material:cotton )
I can do print_r($products['2']); , etc and it will show a similar array as above.
I am trying to get it where I can do this:
echo $products['1']['color']; // the color of product 1
...and echo "blue";
I tried exploding the string and adding it to the array as follows:
$step_two = explode(":", $products['1']);
foreach( $step_two as $key => $value){
$products['1'][$key] = $value;
}
I know I'm obviously doing the explode / foreach way wrong but I wanted to post my code anyway. I hope this is enough information to help sort this out.

Answer 1

Try this:
foreach ($products as &$product)
{
foreach ($product as $key => $value)
{
list($attribute, $val) = explode(':',$value);
$product[$attribute] = $val;
// optional:
unset($product[$key]);
}
}
?>

Answer 2

Here goes a sample that will convert from your first form to your desired form (output goes below)
<?php
$a = array( '1' => array('color:blue','size:large','price:cheap'));
print_r($a);
foreach ($a as $key => $inner_array) {
foreach ($inner_array as $key2 => $attribute) {
$parts = explode(":",$attribute);
$a[$key][$parts[0]] = $parts[1];
//Optional, to remove the old values
unset($a[$key][$key2]);
}
}
print_r($a);
?>
root#xxx:/home/vinko/is# php a.php
Array
(
[1] => Array
(
[0] => color:blue
[1] => size:large
[2] => price:cheap
)
)
Array
(
[1] => Array
(
[color] => blue
[size] => large
[price] => cheap
)
)

Answer 3

You would be better of to build the array the right way, but to solve your problem you need to explode in the loop, something like:
foreach( $products['1'] as $value){
$step_two = explode(":", $value);
$products['1'][$step_two[0]] = $step_two[1];
}
You can wrap another foreach around it to loop over your whole $products array.
And you'd also better build a new array to avoid having both the old and the new values in your $products array.

Answer 4

You are right: you got the "foreach" and "explode" the wrong way around. Try something like this:
foreach($products['1'] as $param => $value) {
$kv = explode(":", $value);
if(count($kv) == 2) {
$products[$kv[0]] = $kv[1];
unset($products['1'][$param]);
}
}
This code first loops over the sub-elements of your first element, then splits each one by the colon and, if there are two parts, sets the key-value back into the array.
Note the unset line - it removes array elements like $products['1'][1] after setting products['1']['color'] to blue.

Answer 5

If you already have $products structured in that way, you can modifty its structure like this:
$products = array(
'1' => array(
0 => 'size:large', 1 => 'color:blue', 2 => 'material:cotton'
),
'2' => array(
0 => 'size:small', 1 => 'color:red', 2 => 'material:silk'
),
);
foreach ($products as &$product) {
$newArray = array();
foreach ($product as $item) {
list($key, $value) = explode(':', $item);
$newArray[$key] = $value;
}
$product = $newArray;
}
print_r($products);
If you don't want to overwrite original $products array, just append $newArray to another array.

Answer 6

<?php
$products = array();
$new_product = array();
$new_product['color'] = "blue";
$new_product['size'] = "large";
$new_product['material'] = "cotton";
$products[] = $new_product;
echo $products[0]['color'];
//print_r($products);