String "array" to real array - php

Question

Now I got the string of an array, like this :
$str = "array('a'=>1, 'b'=>2)";
How can I convert this string into real array ? Is there any "smart way" to do that, other that use explode() ? Because the "string" array could be very complicated some time.
Thanks !

Answer 1

Use php's "eval" function.
eval("\$myarray = $str;");

Answer 2

i don't know a good way to do this (only evil eval() wich realy should be avoided).
but: where do you get that string from? is it something you can affect? if so, using serialize() / unserialize() would be a much better way.

Answer 3

With a short version of the array json_decode works
json_decode('["option", "option2"]')
But with the old version just like the OP's asking it doesn't. The only thing it could be done is using Akash's Answer or eval which I don't really like using.
json_decode('array("option", "option2")')

Answer 4

You could write the string to a file, enclosing the string in a function definition within the file, and give the file a .php extension.
Then you include the php file in your current module and call the function which will return the array.

Answer 5

You'd have to use eval().
A better way to get a textual representation of an array that doesn't need eval() to decode is using json_encode() / json_decode().

Answer 6

If you can trust the string, use eval. I don't remember the exact syntax, but this should work.
$arr = eval($array_string);
If the string is given by user input or from another untrusted source, you should avoid eval() under all circumstances!
To store Arrays in strings, you should possibly take a look at serialize and unserialize.

Answer 7

Don't use eval() in any case
just call strtoarray($str, 'keys') for array with keys and strtoarray($str) for array which have no keys.
function strtoarray($a, $t = ''){
$arr = [];
$a = ltrim($a, '[');
$a = ltrim($a, 'array(');
$a = rtrim($a, ']');
$a = rtrim($a, ')');
$tmpArr = explode(",", $a);
foreach ($tmpArr as $v) {
if($t == 'keys'){
$tmp = explode("=>", $v);
$k = $tmp[0]; $nv = $tmp[1];
$k = trim(trim($k), "'");
$k = trim(trim($k), '"');
$nv = trim(trim($nv), "'");
$nv = trim(trim($nv), '"');
$arr[$k] = $nv;
} else {
$v = trim(trim($v), "'");
$v = trim(trim($v), '"');
$arr[] = $v;
}
}
return $arr;
}