php url query nested array with no index

Question

I'm working with a third party API that receives several parameters which must be encoded like this:

text[]=Hello%20World&text[]=How%20are%20you?&html[]=<p>Just%20fine,%20thank%20you</p>

As you can see this API can accept multiple parameters for text, and also for HTML (not in the sample call).

I have used http_build_query to correctly build a query string for other APIs

$params['text'][] = 'Hello World';
$params['text'][] = 'How are you?';
$params['html'][] = '<p>Just fine, thank you</p>';

$http_query = http_build_query($params);

The problem with this approach is that it will build a query string with the numeric index:

text[0]=Hello%20World&text[1]=How%20are%20you?&html[0]=<p>Just%20fine,%20thank%20you</p>

unfortunately the API I'm working with doesn't like the numeric index and fails.

Is there any php function/class-method that can help me build a query like this quickly?

Thank you

Walf · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-18 04:39:36Z

13

I don't know a standard way to do it (I think there is no such way), but here's an ugly solution:

Since [] is encoded by http_build_query, you may generate string with indices and then replace them.

preg_replace('/(%5B)\d+(%5D=)/i', '$1$2', http_build_query($params));

edited Sep 18, 2017 at 4:39

Walf

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answered Aug 16, 2012 at 23:06

RiaD

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2 Comments

Erdal G. Over a year ago

Idea was here, but this is the correct implementation (cf. php online manual's comments): preg_replace('/%5B[0-9]+%5D/simU', '%5B%5D', $http_query);

Matt Over a year ago

Agree with @ErdalG. You could also do the following:

$httpQuery = http_build_query($params, null, '&'); $httpQueryDecoded = urldecode($httpQuery); $requestDataFormatted = urlencode(preg_replace('#\[[\d]+\]#', '[]', $httpQueryDecoded));

michaelxor · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-30 23:51:09Z

I very much agree with the answer by RiaD, but you might run into some problems with this code (sorry I can't just make this a comment due to lack of rep).

First off, as far as I know http_build_query returns an urlencode()'d string, which means you won't have [ and ] but instead you'll have %5B and %5D.

Second, PHP's PCRE engine recognizes the '[' character as the beginning of a character class and not just as a simple '[' (PCRE Meta Characters). This may end up replacing ALL digits from your request with '[]'.

You'll more likely want something like this:

preg_replace('/\%5B\d+\%5D/', '%5B%5D', http_build_query($params));

In this case, you'll need to escape the % characters because those also have a special meaning. Provided you have a string with the actual brackets instead of the escapes, try this:

preg_replace('/\[\d+\]/', '[]', $http_query);

Nir Alfasi · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-16 23:16:43Z

4

There doesn't seem to be a way to do this with http_build_query. Sorry. On the docs page though, someone has this:

function cr_post($a,$b=0,$c=0){
    if (!is_array($a)) return false;
    foreach ((array)$a as $k=>$v){
        if ($c) $k=$b."[]"; elseif (is_int($k)) $k=$b.$k;
        if (is_array($v)||is_object($v)) {
            $r[]=cr_post($v,$k,1);continue;
        }
        $r[]=urlencode($k)."=" .urlencode($v);    
    }
    return implode("&",$r);
}


$params['text'][] = 'Hello World';
$params['text'][] = 'How are you?';
$params['html'][] = '<p>Just fine, thank you</p>';

$str = cr_post($params);
echo $str;

I haven't tested it. If it doesn't work then you're going to have to roll your own. Maybe you can publish a github gist so other people can use it!

edited Aug 16, 2012 at 23:16

Nir Alfasi

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answered Aug 16, 2012 at 23:04

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1 Comment

Nir Alfasi Over a year ago

I fixed the example that you posted, now it works only that it also encodes the [].

Nir Alfasi · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-16 23:11:15Z

1

Try this:

$params['text'][] = 'Hello World';
$params['text'][] = 'How are you?';
$params['html'][] = '<p>Just fine, thank you</p>';
foreach ($params as $key => $value) {
    foreach ($value as $key2 => $value2) {        
        $http_query.= $key . "[]=" . $value2 . "&";
    }
}
$http_query = substr($http_query, 0, strlen($http_query)-1); // remove the last '&'
$http_query = str_replace(" ", "%20", $http_query); // manually encode spaces
echo $http_query;

answered Aug 16, 2012 at 23:11

Nir Alfasi

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3 Comments

RiaD Over a year ago

not only spaces are encoded, it's better to use urlencode in loop

Nir Alfasi Over a year ago

urlencode will replace [] with %5B%5D%3D - and according to the example the OP provided above - it's not the expected output.

Nir Alfasi Over a year ago

@RiaD well, that's your solution :))))

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