PHP string to nested / multidimensional array - php

Question

I have this example php string:
$string = "#[item_1][door] #[mozart][grass] = yes #[mozart][green] = no #[mozart][human] #[blue][movie]=yes #[item_1][beat] = yes #[item_1][music] = no
";
now $string idented just to easy view:
#[item_1][door]
#[mozart][grass] = yes
#[mozart][green] = no
#[mozart][human]
#[blue][movie]=yes
#[item_1][beat] = yes
#[item_1][music] = no
I want to know how can i get this string ( or other string following this style ) and transform in an array that looks like:
Array
(
[item_1] => Array
(
[door] => Array
(
[mozart] => Array
(
[grass] => yes
[green] => no
[human] => Array
(
[blue] => Array
(
[movie] => yes
)
)
)
)
[beat] => yes
[music] => no
)
)
What i tried
I tried to use and recursive function to create an nested array but i can't have access to the array pointer ( in deep levels ) in recursive functions.. don't know why.. maybe is the wrong patch to the answer.
thank you,

Answer 1

OK, I hope you still need this, because I wasted more time than I'd like to admin getting this right :)
Basically, my approach was to first manipulate the string into the format [set][of][keys]=value, and then loop through the string of keys and comparing them with the last set of keys to create the correct key hierarchy. I used eval because it's easier, but you can write a replacement function if you can't stomach seeing that function in your code:
//FIRST WE GET THE STRING INTO EASIER TO WORK WITH CHUNKS
$original_string = "#[item_1][door] #[mozart][grass] = yes #[mozart][green] = no #[mozart][human] #[blue][movie]=yes #[item_1][beat] = yes #[item_1][music] = no ";
$cleaned_string = str_replace('] #[','][',$original_string);
/* This results in clusters of keys that equal a value:
#[item_1][door][mozart][grass] = yes #[mozart][green] = no #[mozart][human][blue][movie]=yes #[item_1][beat] = yes #[item_1][music] = no
OR (with line breaks for clarity):
#[item_1][door][mozart][grass] = yes
#[mozart][green] = no
#[mozart][human][blue][movie]=yes
#[item_1][beat] = yes
#[item_1][music] = no */
//break it up into an array:
$elements = explode('#',$cleaned_string);
//create a variable to compare the last string to
$last_keys = "";
//and another that will serve as our final array
$array_of_arrays = array();
//now loop through each [item_1][door][mozart][grass] = yes,[mozart][green] = no, etc
foreach($elements as $element){
if ($element==""){continue;} //skip the first empty item
//break the string into [0] = group of keys and [1] the value that terminates the string
//so [item_1][door][mozart][grass] = yes BECOMES [item_1][door][mozart][grass], AND yes
$pieces = explode('=',str_replace(array('[',']'),array("['","']"),trim($element)));
//now compare this set of keys to the last set of keys, and if they overlap merge them into a single key string
$clean_keys = combine_key_strings($pieces[0],$last_keys);
//set the new key string the value for the next comparison
$last_keys = $clean_keys;
//and (ugly, I know) we use an eval to convert "[item_1][door][mozart][grass]='yes'" into a properly keyed array
eval("\$array_of_arrays".$clean_keys." = '".trim($pieces[1])."';");
}
//now dump the contents
print_r($array_of_arrays);
//THIS FUNCTION COMPA
function combine_key_strings($new,$old){
//get the key that starts the newer string
$new_keys = explode('][',$new);
$first_key = $new_keys[0].']';
//see if it appears in the last string
$last_occurance = strrpos ($old,$first_key);
//if so, merge the two strings to create the full array keystring
if (is_int($last_occurance)){
return substr($old,0,$last_occurance).$new;
}
return $new;
}
This should spit out your correctly nested array:
Array
(
[item_1] => Array
(
[door] => Array
(
[mozart] => Array
(
[grass] => yes
[green] => no
[human] => Array
(
[blue] => Array
(
[movie] => yes
)
)
)
)
[beat] => yes
[music] => no
)
)
Good night!