php convert a string into multi dimensional array

Question

I have seen many posts on here about converting a multi dimensional array into a string but not the other way around so I have a question to ask. I have got the following string of data which is retrieved from a JQuery array via a post:

["[email protected], [email protected]","http://www.gardengamesltd.co.uk/acatalog/contactus.html"],["[email protected]","http://www.gardengames.com/contact/"],["[email protected]","http://www.gardengamesandleisure.com/ContactUs.aspx"],["[email protected]","http://www.kentgardengameshire.com/contact-us.html"],["[email protected]","http://www.gardengamesuk.com/contact.php"],["[email protected]","http://www.gardenknightgames.com/contact/"],["[email protected]","http://www.just-garden-games.co.uk/"]

What I am wanting to do is convert it into an array which looks like so:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [Email] => [email protected], [email protected]
            [FB] => http://www.gardengamesltd.co.uk/acatalog/contactus.html
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [Email] => [email protected]
            [FB] => http://www.gardengames.com/contact/
        )
    [2] => Array
        (
            [Email] => [email protected]
            [FB] => http://www.aaeventhire.com/pricing/garden-games
        )

)

I realize I could use $array = explode('","', $harvest_data); however this is only going to give me a single level array and ideally I am wanting to keep email, fb inside an inner array.

Has anyone got any ideas on how I can go about doing this?

Thanks.

You'll have to explode as you have, then loop that and explode the contents of that array, and combine it back. — Brian
– Brian, Commented Oct 30, 2013 at 16:50
I would just JSON encode the array, post it to PHP and then JSON decode it. — David Nguyen
– David Nguyen, Commented Oct 30, 2013 at 16:51
So I would explode by ],[ first then "," second inside a foreach loop of the first exploded array? I was looking into this but I am not sure how to make an array once I have looped into the initial array — Simon Staton
– Simon Staton, Commented Oct 30, 2013 at 16:52
David your reply looks good, I'm just going to look around for an example of a JSON encode and decode — Simon Staton
– Simon Staton, Commented Oct 30, 2013 at 16:53
Javascript side: developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JSON PHP Side: php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php — David Nguyen
– David Nguyen, Commented Oct 30, 2013 at 16:55

jeroen · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-30 16:59:45Z

2

As it is, your string is not valid JSON. Wrapping it in a pair of []'s would work in this case so if the input always has this form, this would work:

$json_string = '[' . $your_string . ']';
$your_array = json_decode($json_string);

However, it would be best to make sure that your front-end / javascript posts valid JSON to begin with.

Working example.

edited Oct 30, 2013 at 16:59

answered Oct 30, 2013 at 16:54

jeroen

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1 Comment

Simon Staton Over a year ago

The javascript was in fact posting valid JSON I simply stripped the outside [] while trying to explode, thanks for the help.

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