Update a multi dimensional array targeted by path string?

Question

I have a multidimensional associative array. Input to my program is a string that is compose of keys from the array separated by brackets. How can I target the array and update a value?

Input

$array = Array
(
    [store_name] => Jota
    [social] => Array
        (
            [fb] => foo

        )
)

$pattern = "[social][fb];"

$value = "bar";

Desired Output

$array = Array
(
    [store_name] => Jota
    [social] => Array
        (
            [fb] => bar
        )
)

I tried few attempts by using regex & variable reference but nothing is likely to be pasted here. You can say I am unable to think of an Idea to achieve this :(

gen_Eric · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-10 17:15:40Z

You can use a regex to get the keys entered:

$pattern = '[social][fb]';
$matched = preg_match_all('/\[([^\[\]]+)\]/', $pattern, $keys);

This regex may look messy, but it's not that bad. It's just checking for any character (that isn't [ or ]) that's inside [].

Regex demo: https://regex101.com/r/Y0bw8f/1

Then you can loop over the found keys until you get to the end and then update the array value. This can be done by making a reference to the array and then moving it down for each key until you get to the value.

if ($matched !== false) {
    $arrayKeys = $keys[1];  // Get the 1st groups from the matched values
    $arrayPointer =& $array;  // Create a reference to the array

    foreach ($arrayKeys as $k) {
        $arrayPointer =& $arrayPointer[$k];  // Move the reference down each key
    }

    $arrayPointer = $value;  // Update the value
    unset($arrayPointer);  // Destroy the reference
}

var_dump($array);

Full code demo: Try it online!

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