PHP - array of objects

Question

I come from a javascript background, I want to do something similar to this.

$questions = [
      {
       "title" => "this is the title",
       "description" => "this is the desctiption"
      },
      {
       "title" => "this is the title2",
       "description" => "this is the desctiption2"
      }
    ];

How do I create an array of objects in PHP?

I think [associative arrays](http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php) is probably the best starting point but if you want true PHP objects then you will have to look into [`stdClass()`](https://stackoverflow.com/q/1434368/2191572) — MonkeyZeus, May 29 '18 at 17:00
Create objects and put in a array ? What have you try to do by the way ? basically, with your exemple, create a class with your attributes in a constructor, instanciate them dirrectly in the array — Frankich, May 29 '18 at 17:00
Basically, change those curly brackets `{` into square brackets `[` — MonkeyZeus, May 29 '18 at 17:01

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered May 29 '18 at 17:03

The quickest way with a standard object is to create arrays and cast to an object:

$questions = [
      (object)[
       "title" => "this is the title",
       "description" => "this is the desctiption"
      ],
      (object)[
       "title" => "this is the title2",
       "description" => "this is the desctiption2"
      ]
];

Or you can JSON encode and decode an array:

$questions = [
      [
       "title" => "this is the title",
       "description" => "this is the desctiption"
      ],
      [
       "title" => "this is the title2",
       "description" => "this is the desctiption2"
      ]
];

$questions = json_decode(json_encode($questions));

If you're doing this for the purpose of using it in JSON, then just build an array. Arrays with string keys will be objects when encoded.

MonkeyZeus · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-29T17:21:34.847

2

Your example appears to be a properly formed JS array/object declaration:

var questions = [
  {
   "title" => "this is the title",
   "description" => "this is the desctiption"
  },
  {
   "title" => "this is the title2",
   "description" => "this is the desctiption2"
  }
];

So the easiest way to achieve a similar result in PHP is:

$questions = [
    [
        "title" => "this is the title",
        "description" => "this is the desctiption"
    ],
    [
        "title" => "this is the title2",
        "description" => "this is the desctiption2"
    ]
];

edited May 29 '18 at 17:21

answered May 29 '18 at 17:04

MonkeyZeus

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That's an array of arrays, not objects. – AbraCadaver May 29 '18 at 17:09
@AbraCadaver You're right, hopefully my update corrects any misconception. – MonkeyZeus May 30 '18 at 02:03

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 29 '18 at 17:14

This is not real a "true" object since there are only properties. This kind of structure will be best handled as simple arrays, and your JS string can easily be converted to an array like this :

$questions = '[
    {
    "title" => "this is the title",
    "description" => "this is the desctiption"
    },
    {
    "title" => "this is the title2",
    "description" => "this is the desctiption2"
    }
]';

$my_array = json_decode($questions, true);

Note that the true argument of json_decode will force the output to be an associative array. Then your $my_array will be:

array(2)
{
    [0]=>
    array(2) {
        ["title"]=>
        string(17) "this is the title"
        ["description"]=>
        string(23) "this is the desctiption"
    }
    [1]=>
    array(2) {
        ["title"]=>
        string(18) "this is the title2"
        ["description"]=>
        string(24) "this is the desctiption2"
    }
}

PHP - array of objects

3 Answers3