php string to associative array

Question

I'm trying to store a set of data in a TEXT field in my MySQL database. The data to store are as follow (data format is not fixed yet):

[location1] => (lat,lon,zoom)
[location2] => (lat,lon,zoom)
[location3] => (lat,lon,zoom)
etc...

In the end all these data will be one single string. How should I write/format this string so that I can then use it in PHP as a regular associative array?

Storing formatted data in a database negates the purpose of having the database in the first place. That reduces it to just being a very 'expensive' file storage medium. Create a table that contains location, lat, lon, zoom fields and store each datum in its assigned field. — Marc B
– Marc B, Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 17:52
Alright but isn't it a problem if a table ends up with millions of rows? — caccialdo
– caccialdo, Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 17:57
Well storing the values in a gigantic text field isn't going to alleviate the problem of storing a million rows. — Captain Insaneo
– Captain Insaneo, Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 19:02

YMMD · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-28 17:52:14Z

2

Why don't you save them in an individual table with this scheme:

Foreign key | Location (text) | lat (double) | lon (double) | zoom (double)

answered Mar 28, 2012 at 17:52

YMMD

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1 Comment

caccialdo Over a year ago

I could do that but I would prefer not create another table. Plus, I'm interested in the solution to this problem ^^

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