Json array to object multidimensional

Question

The issue at hand is that I have an array within my JSON after I decoded it.

I collect a few items from the database, and place them in an array in an foreach.

Data to place in array:

    [ 0 =>
        [ 0 => [
            'title' => 'Title 1',
            'files' => [
                'name' => 'file_name',
                'url' => 'file_url'
            ]
        ]
        ],
        [ 1 => [
            'title' => 'Title 1',
            'files' => [
                'name' => 'file_name',
                'url' => 'file_url'
            ]
        ]
        ],
        [ 2 => [
            'title' => 'Title 3',
            'files' => [
                'name' => 'file_name',
                'url' => 'file_url'
            ]
        ]
        ],
        [ 3 => [
            'title' => 'Title 4',
            'files' => [
                'name' => 'file_name',
                'url' => 'file_url'
            ]
        ]
        ]
    ]

Next I'll place it in an array to place all files belonging to the same title :

    $dataArray = [];
    foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
        $dataArray['dataInfo'][] = [
            'title' => $value['title'],
            'files' => [
                'name' => $value['files']['name'],
                'url' => $value['files']['url']
            ]
        ];
    }

Then I'll convert it to an JSON with:

json_encode(dataArray);

The result is:

    {
      "dataInfo": [
        {
            "title": "Title 1",
          "files": {
            "name": "file name",
            "url": "file_url"
          }
        },
        {
            "title": "Title 1",
          "files": {
            "name": "file name",
            "url": "file_url"
          }
        },
        {
            "title": "Title 3",
          "files": {
            "name": "file name",
            "url": "file_url"
          }
        },
        {
            "title": "Title 4",
          "files": {
            "name": "file name",
            "url": "file_url"
          }
        }
      ]
    }

What I want is:

    {
        "dataInfo": [
        {
            "title": "Title 1",
          "files": {
            "name": "file name",
            "url": "file_url",
          }, 
          {
            "name": "file name",
            "url": "file_url",
          }
        },
        {
            "title": "Title 3",
          "files": {
            "name": "file name",
            "url": "file_url"
          }
        },
        {
            "title": "Title 4",
          "files": {
            "name": "file name",
            "url": "file_url"
          }
        }
      ]
    }

How can I make this happen?

You can't add dangling commas and still have it be valid JSON, JSON does not support this. — user229044
– user229044 ♦, Commented Jul 10, 2018 at 13:07

Loek · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-10 11:30:13Z

1

This should work I guess:

$dataArray = [];
$previousTitle = '';
foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
    if ($previousTitle === $value['title']) {
        $dataArray['dataInfo'][$previousTitle]['files'] += [
            'name' => $value['files']['name'],
            'url' => $value['files']['url']
        ]
    } else {
        $dataArray['dataInfo'][] = [
            'title' => $value['title'],
            'files' => [
                'name' => $value['files']['name'],
                'url' => $value['files']['url']
            ]
        ];
    }

    $previousTitle = $value['title'];
}

answered Jul 10, 2018 at 11:30

Loek

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2 Comments

Jeppsen Over a year ago

What if the titles are not in order? Let's say we have title1, title2, title1? Will the $previousTitle work then?

Loek Over a year ago

Nope, it won't. You can always switch out the $previousTitle for an array and then do an array search in the if statement if necessary. Good call though!

Loek · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-10 11:41:08Z

0

Laravel has the collections that will allow you do do this:

$result = [ "dataInfo" => 
    collect($dataArray["dataInfo"])
        ->groupBy('title')
        ->map(function ($group, $title) {                    
        return [
            "title" => $title,
            "files" => $group->pluck("files")->all()
        ];
    })
];

Breaking this down:

You first transform $dataArray["dataInfo"] by making it a collection then grouping it by "title". Then each group is transformed into an entry with title and an array of the files.

edited Jul 10, 2018 at 11:41

Loek

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answered Jul 10, 2018 at 11:30

apokryfos

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2 Comments

Loek Over a year ago

Oh this is sweet, nice call

Tolu Tourialai Over a year ago

This one did it for me.

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