PHP Access nested object property via strings in array

Question

Let's say we have an object $obj. This object has a property which is as follows:

$obj->p1->p2->p3 = 'foo';

Now I get the nested property structure in an array:

$arr = array( 'p1', 'p2', 'p3' );

Currently I use the following function to access the property accordingly:

function getProperty( $obj, $property ) {
foreach( $property as $p ) {
  $obj = $obj->{$p};
 }
 return $obj;
}

$value = getProperty( $obj, $arr); // = 'foo'

Is there a smarter way to do that (no, 'eval' is not an option! ;) )?

There's no urgent need to change it. But it seems to be a little bit complicated and not very elegant. — Marcus Kober
– Marcus Kober, Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 14:42
In addition, this is part of a very complex script and execution time is a relevant point here... — Marcus Kober
– Marcus Kober, Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 14:44
I don't think you can make it "prettier". Here is an alternative to foreach with array_reduce. function getProperty($object, array $keys) { return array_reduce($keys, function($carry, $item) { return $carry->{$item}; }, $object); } — OIS
– OIS, Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 15:02
Thank you! The more I think about it, the more I think there's really no "prettier" way. ;) — Marcus Kober
– Marcus Kober, Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 15:11

Tomasz Racia · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-18 14:53:51Z

1

If you want to make it in one line or a bit prettier, you can try this:

echo json_decode(json_encode($obj), true)['p1']['p2']['p3']; // PHP 5.4

or for PHP 5.3:

$arr = json_decode(json_encode($obj), true);
echo $arr['p1']['p2']['p3'];

Is that the goal you want to achieve?

answered Dec 18, 2014 at 14:53

Tomasz Racia

1,8062 gold badges16 silver badges25 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Marcus Kober Over a year ago

Now that looks nice. ;) But the object can be very big with many properties. Have to check the execution time of encoding to and decoding from json.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP Access nested object property via strings in array

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related