PHP convert flat to nested multidimensional array in foreach loop

Question

I have some data that is coming from a mysql query in a flat array this way:

  0 => Array 
    indcode => "A00"
    indlabel => "Code label text"
    description => "More explanations"
  1 => Array 
    indcode => "NA0"
    indlabel => "Un-classified A"
    description => "Un-classified A"
  2 => Array (3)
    indcode => "A01"
    indlabel => "Code Label text"
    description => "More explanations"
  3 => Array (3)
    indcode => "A02"
    indlabel => "Code label text"
    description => "More explanations"

I would like to nest it that way:

  A00 => Array 
    indlabel => "Code label text"
    description => "More explanations"
  NA0 => Array 
    indlabel => "Un-classified A"
    description => "Un-classified A"
  A01 => Array 
    indlabel => "Code Label text"
    description => "More explanations"
  A02 => Array
    indlabel => "Code label text"
    description => "More explanations"

So in my CMS I found in use a very neat code which does the nesting :

foreach ($dimsDesc as $desc) {
$descriptions[$desc['indcode']][$desc['indlabel']] = $desc['description'];
}

That works but I didn't find how to keep the indlabel and description at the same level (= the other side of the equal sign).

Also, if you have links to some other examples or a good reference for this construct, it would be appreciated because I will use this a lot to build dynamic reports... And for now PDO queries are a bit out of my reach. I also used array_column() with NULL which works but I have more complex data structures incoming...

Rajdeep Paul · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-09 01:32:17Z

1

You're almost there, just change your foreach loop in the following way,

foreach ($dimsDesc as $desc) {
    $descriptions[$desc['indcode']]['indlabel'] = $desc['indlabel'];
    $descriptions[$desc['indcode']]['description'] = $desc['description'];
}

Or,

foreach ($dimsDesc as $desc) {
    $descriptions[$desc['indcode']] = array('indlabel' => $desc['indlabel'], 'description' => $desc['description']);
}

Here's the documentation,

Creating/modifying arrays with square bracket syntax

edited Oct 9, 2016 at 1:32

answered Oct 9, 2016 at 1:09

Rajdeep Paul

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3 Comments

Joel.O Over a year ago

Thanks, all do work, but especially the first example that even if it looks somehow less neat than the second, it helped me to understand what I had missed !

Joel.O Over a year ago

Thanks indeed. I was wondering if there is some (book, online documentation, ...) where I can find some examples or explanations. I was especially wondering why this works (instead of overwriting the values or duplicating the arrays...)..

Rajdeep Paul Over a year ago

@Joel.O Here's the documentation, http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php#language.types.array.syntax.modifying

Alexan Kulbashian · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-09 01:05:54Z

1

Try this,

<?php
foreach ($dimsDesc as $desc) {
    $descriptions[$desc['indcode']] = array( 
        'indlabel' => $desc['indlabel'], 
        'description' => $desc['description']
    );
}
?>

answered Oct 9, 2016 at 1:05

Alexan Kulbashian

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