PHP => var as string to check array[key]?

Question

I have a var like this...

$var = '["continent"]["country"]["province"]';

and I want to check if the var is a key in a array.

Here's what I've tried, unfortunately without success.

if (!isset($array.$var)) :
     do...
endif;

Is there a native PHP way to do this? I'm not a PHP wizard, Thanks!

Do you want to check if `$var` as key literally exists in the array or do you mean if `$xy["continent"]["country"]["province"]` exists? — Rizier123, Apr 12 '16 at 09:23
Yes, i want to know if $xy["continent"]["country"]["province"] exists. If not, it is to be created — I'm not a PHP wizard, Apr 12 '16 at 10:33

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 12 '16 at 09:03

If the format is definitely like that, you can do something like this:

<?php
// Convert into a proper PHP array by trimming the extra stuff and exploding:
$var = '["continent"]["country"]["province"]';
$var = trim($var, '["');
$var = explode('"]["', $var);
// Apply native array functions...
$key = "country";
if (in_array($key, $var))
    // Do something if present
    echo "Present";
else
    echo "Not Present";
?>

Demo: http://ideone.com/tLx7c3

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 12 '16 at 09:09

you can use
array_key_exists($key,$array)
to test if the key exists in an array.. eg .

<?php
$search_array = array('stack' => 1, 'overflow' => 2);
if (array_key_exists('stack', $search_array)) {
    echo "The element is in the array";
}
?>

array_key_exists() is a php method which returns TRUE if the given key is set in the array. key can be any value possible for an array index. You can refer the following document for this . http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-key-exists.php

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 12 '16 at 09:21

0

<?php

$array = array(
    '["continent"]["country"]["province"]' => 'foo',
    '["big"]["fat"]["mama"]' => 'bar'
);

$var = '["continent"]["country"]["province"]';

if (array_key_exists($var,$array))
    print 'key is in the array';

answered Apr 12 '16 at 09:21

Progrock

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Thanks, that works. But how can insert the key in the array I when this does not exist? – I'm not a PHP wizard Apr 12 '16 at 10:50
To insert a new key value pair, `$array['["fine"]["new"]["shoes"]']='baz'`. – Progrock Apr 13 '16 at 08:40

PHP => var as string to check array[key]?

3 Answers3