PHP string to array keys

Question

I have a string that holds the property and key values to accessing a value on an object..

For Example, the string is "property_name[key1][key2][key3]", which relates to $obj->property_name[key1][key2][key3]

I've been trying to parse the string with a regular expression, but all of my attempts have ben in vain.

So far, my regular expression looks like this, but it won't get key2. ^(\w+)\[([^\]]+)\](?:(\[([^\]]+)\])+)

Am I on the right track or is there a better way to do this that I should try?

Thanks.

You're probably doing something wrong. Where do you get these strings from? Maybe you can save them as JSON instead? — silkfire
– silkfire, Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 8:11
They're the names of fields in a form that have been changed. I'm trying to update a few fields in multiple records when a user changes a value from my form. I'm using javascript to save the field names to a hidden element to get these. — Craig Gardner
– Craig Gardner, Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 8:15

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:13:47Z

1

The regular expression could look like this:

^(\w+)(?:\[(\w+)\])+

Then your matches will contain the property name and the array keys. If the number of keys varies, use this to get the actual value: Using a path to an array item

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:13

CommunityBot

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answered Mar 6, 2013 at 8:16

Fabian Schmengler

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1 Comment

Craig Gardner Over a year ago

I ended up using a combination of the link here and this regular expression @^(\w+)(\[([^]].*)\])@

silkfire · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-06 08:21:16Z

0

You should use AJAX instead and send a useful array with objects inside to the server that you can parse with PHP.

var changed_values = [
                      {
                       'part_of_form': 'XX',
                       'field': 2,
                       'subfield': 3
                      },
        .......
                     ]

Then in PHP you can loop over it:

foreach($_POST['changed_values'] as $changed_value) {
  ........
}

answered Mar 6, 2013 at 8:21

silkfire

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1 Comment

Craig Gardner Over a year ago

This is exactly what I am trying to do.

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