How to create nested object from nested arrays in php

Question

I have code like this, that initialize config

    $this->config = array(
        'users' => array(
            array('name' => 'admin',
                  'password' => $password
            )
        ),
        'tokens' => array(),
        'sessions' => array(),
    );

that I'm saving to a file using json_encode($this->config) and later I load it using

json_decode(file_get_contents('file.json'));

it create nested objects, I would like to have this nested object when I initialize and the config, is there a way to create this nested object other then this?

$this->config = json_decode(json_encode($this->config));

You want your array to become an object, or better a collection of nested objects? — moonwave99
– moonwave99, Commented Aug 25, 2012 at 17:52
@moonwave99 Yes, json_encode for assoc array array('foo' => 'bar') return {"foo": "bar"} which become an object when you use json_decode('{"foo": "bar"}') so instead of $array['foo'] you access it via $array->foo - json_decode create instance of stdClass — jcubic
– jcubic, Commented Aug 25, 2012 at 17:57
Anyway, why don't you just store your data object-wise the first time, without passing for associative arrays? — moonwave99
– moonwave99, Commented Aug 25, 2012 at 18:19
Becasue php don't have syntax for creating objects like JSON in javascript and I would need to use something like like $this->config = new stdClass(); $admin = new stdClass(); $admin->user = 'admin'; $admin->password = $password; $this->config->users = array($admin); ... I prefer one extression. I post solution to this. — jcubic
– jcubic, Commented Aug 25, 2012 at 18:34
But php has classes! Just define a User class and provide a constructor: you will come with something like new User('admin', $password). — moonwave99
– moonwave99, Commented Aug 25, 2012 at 18:37

Arun Poudel · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-25 17:58:22Z

1

You can alternatively use this function

<?php
function arrayToObject($array) {
    if(!is_array($array)) {
        return $array;
    }

    $object = new stdClass();
    if (is_array($array) && count($array) > 0) {
      foreach ($array as $name=>$value) {
         $name = strtolower(trim($name));
         if (!empty($name)) {
            $object->$name = arrayToObject($value);
         }
      }
      return $object;
    }
    else {
      return FALSE;
    }
}
?>

answered Aug 25, 2012 at 17:58

community wiki

Arun Poudel

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2 Comments

moonwave99 Over a year ago

It's ok, but it gets rid of numeric indexed arrays [e.g. the users array in example given], which should stay as being collections of objects - just check that $name is not numeric.

jcubic Over a year ago

@moonwave99 yes it should check if is_integer(array_keys($array)[0]) and then use return array_map('arrayToObject', $array);

jcubic · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-25 19:33:24Z

0

I decide to use this function instead

function object($array) {
    $object = new stdClass();
    foreach ($array as $k => $v) {
        $object->$k = $v;
    }
    return $object;
}

and explicitly call it for assoc arrays

$this->config = object(array(
    'users' => array(
        object(array(
            'name' => 'admin',
            'password' => $password
        ))
    ),
    'tokens' => array(),
    'sessions' => array(),
));

EDIT recursive code

function is_assoc($array) {
    if (!is_array($array)) {
        return false;
    } else {
        $keys = array_keys($array);
        return !is_numeric($keys[0]);
    }
}

function object($array) {
    if (is_assoc($array)) {
        $object = new stdClass();
        foreach ($array as $k => $v) {
            $object->$k = object($v);
        }
        return $object;
    } else {
        return $array;
    }
}

edited Aug 25, 2012 at 19:33

answered Aug 25, 2012 at 18:28

jcubic

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2 Comments

moonwave99 Over a year ago

By the way, you don't need to do this - just cast your array to object: (object)($this -> config) to obtain what your custom function does.

jcubic Over a year ago

@moonwave99 I didn't know that you can cast to functions. But cast is not recursive second function will create object only from first array. But anyway I decide to drop this array to objec thing.

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