How to send data from javascript as multidimensional array to PHP

Question

I'm using $.ajax to send the values of a form to a PHP script.

The form input fields are read like arrays by PHP, but I don't know how to do the same with javascript and jQuery, and send them in such a way that PHP is able to read them like arrays.

For example a input named foo[bar] in PHP you get it as $_POST['foo']['bar']

Currently I'm sending this data like

data:{
   foo_bar: $('form').find('#foo_bar').val(),
   foo_xxx: $('form').find('#foo_xx').val()
},

and manually assembling the array in the PHP script.

But it's starting to take a lot of lines of code. Could I somehow automate this, and send all the form input as an multidimensional array to PHP?

I'm not sure I can visualize what you're trying to do. More code, please? — Blazemonger
– Blazemonger, Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 15:06
Form fields are usually in the form of key->value pairs... so what do you mean by multi-dimensional? in what way is it going to be multi-dimensional? — Dexter Huinda
– Dexter Huinda, Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 15:09

mobius · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-22 15:10:57Z

5

You could use $.serialize();

data: {
  d: $('form').serialize()
}

Check for more information here: http://api.jquery.com/serialize/

It will send back a string field=value&field2=value& and you could use parse_str to handle it

parse_str sample:

$foo = "t[]=1&t[]=2&b=3";
parse_str($foo, $bar);
var_dump($bar);

Results to:

array(2) {
  ["t"]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(1) "1"
    [1]=>
    string(1) "2"
  }
  ["b"]=>
  string(1) "3"
}

edited Jun 22, 2012 at 15:10

answered Jun 22, 2012 at 15:01

mobius

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3 Comments

mobius Over a year ago

What do you mean by one level?

Alex Over a year ago

well the strings looks like it doesn't support more levels than one but I was looking at implode/explode. Can parse_str decode it as multidim. array?

Alex Over a year ago

you are right, parse_str works differently than explode. thanks :P

Salman Arshad · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-22 15:17:41Z

You do not have to do any thing special. Declare your field names exactly the way you want PHP to interpret them:

<form>
<input name="foo[bar]" id="foo_bar">
<input name="foo[xxx]" id="foo_xxx">
<input name="a[]" id="a_0">
<input name="a[]" id="a_1">
<input name="b[0][1][2]" id="b_0_1_2">
</form>

jQuery.serialize will url-encode the form fields just the way you expect:

data: $("form").serialize()
// foo%5Bbar%5D=&foo%5Bxxx%5D=&a%5B%5D=&a%5B%5D=&b%5B0%5D%5B1%5D%5B2%5D=

When this is passed as a query string to a PHP page:

/phpinfo.php?foo%5Bbar%5D=&foo%5Bxxx%5D=&a%5B%5D=&a%5B%5D=&b%5B0%5D%5B1%5D%5B2%5D=

You get:

$_GET["foo"] = Array
(
    [bar] => 
    [xxx] => 
)
$_GET["a"] = Array
(
    [0] => 
    [1] => 
)
$_GET["b"] = Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [1] => Array
                (
                    [2] => 
                )
        )
)

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