How can I convert an array of strings into an associative array in PHP?

Question

I currently have an array of three strings, and my goal is to turn these three strings from the array into individual associative arrays.

This is the array:

$arr = array(

  "action: Added; amount: 1; code: RNA1; name: Mens Organic T-shirt; colour: White; size: XL",

  "action: Subtracted; amount: 7; code: RNC1; name: Kids Basic T-shirt; colour: Denim Blue; size: 3-4y",

  "action: Added; amount: 20; code: RNV1; name: Gift Voucher; style: Mens; value: £20",

I'd like to have the key of the associative array be the action, quantity, item code etc and to start off I thought I should try turning the contents of the array into a string to make it more manageable.

// Convert $arr to a string.
$imploded = implode(": ",$arr);
//echo $imploaded;
$str = $imploded;
$results = preg_split('/: [;,]/', $str);
print_r($results);

Ideally, i'd like the array to look like this. I'm quite new to PHP so any help and advice would be much appreciated.

array(
    'action'    =>   '',
    'amount'    =>   '',
    'code'  =>   '',
    'name'  =>   '',
    'colour'    =>   '',
    'size'      =>   '',
);

Does this answer your question? [PHP : simple string to array](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7381500/php-simple-string-to-array) — digijay, Sep 04 '20 at 14:22

Chaz · Answer 1 · 2020-09-08T08:06:17.010

This may be what you need:

<?php

$arr = array(   
  "action: Added; amount: 1; code: RNA1; name: Mens Organic T-shirt; colour: White; size: XL",    
  "action: Subtracted; amount: 7; code: RNC1; name: Kids Basic T-shirt; colour: Denim Blue; size: 3-4y",    
  "action: Added; amount: 20; code: RNV1; name: Gift Voucher; style: Mens; value: £20"
);
    


foreach ($arr as $string) {
   //Build array
   preg_match_all("/ [ ]?([^:]+): ([^;]+)[ ;]? /x", $string, $p);
   $array = array_combine($p[1], $p[2]);

   //Print it or do something else with it
    print_r($array);
}

https://3v4l.org/0cnhZ

You might want to check this as well:
PHP Split Delimited String into Key/Value Pairs (Associative Array)

This answer is missing its educational explanation. – mickmackusa Aug 04 '21 at 03:25 — mickmackusa, Aug 04 '21 at 03:25

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 04 '20 at 14:24

0

You can use :

$tempArray = array();

foreach($arr as $data){
    $dataExplode = explode(';', $data);
      $temp = array();
    foreach($dataExplode as $key => $child){
              $childExplode = explode(':', $child);
              $temp[$childExplode[0]] = $childExplode[1];
    }
      array_push($tempArray, $temp);
}

print_r($tempArray); //to print array collection

You will get collection of seperate array()

answered Sep 04 '20 at 14:24

Suresh Chand

99
6

1

This answer is missing its educational explanation. – mickmackusa Aug 04 '21 at 03:25

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 04 '20 at 14:25

As simple as:

$arr = array(
    "action: Added; amount: 1; code: RNA1; name: Mens Organic T-shirt; colour: White; size: XL",
    "action: Subtracted; amount: 7; code: RNC1; name: Kids Basic T-shirt; colour: Denim Blue; size: 3-4y",
    "action: Added; amount: 20; code: RNV1; name: Gift Voucher; style: Mens; value: £20",
);
  
$data = [];
foreach ($arr as $line) {
    $newItem = [];
    foreach (explode(';', $line) as $item) {
        $parts = explode(':', $item);
        $newItem[trim($parts[0])] = trim($parts[1]);
    }
    $data[] = $newItem;
}

print_r($data);

Fiddle here.

This answer is missing its educational explanation. – mickmackusa Aug 04 '21 at 03:25 — mickmackusa, Aug 04 '21 at 03:25

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 04 '20 at 14:26

$arr = [
    "action: Added; amount: 1; code: RNA1; name: Mens Organic T-shirt; colour: White; size: XL",
    "action: Subtracted; amount: 7; code: RNC1; name: Kids Basic T-shirt; colour: Denim Blue; size: 3-4y",
    "action: Added; amount: 20; code: RNV1; name: Gift Voucher; style: Mens; value: £20",
];

$keyed = array_reduce($arr, function($collector, $value) {
    $collector[] = array_reduce(explode('; ', trim($value, '; ')), function($collector, $value) {
        $parts = explode(': ', $value);
        $collector[$parts[0]] = $parts[1];
        
        return $collector;
    }, []);
    
    return $collector;
}, []);

https://3v4l.org/lLl6T

This answer is missing its educational explanation. – mickmackusa Aug 04 '21 at 03:25 — mickmackusa, Aug 04 '21 at 03:25

Slava Rozhnev · Answer 5 · 2021-08-04T07:15:35.423

0

One more solution without loops using:

$res = array_reduce(
    $arr, 
    function($acc, $item) {
        $s = array_reduce(
            explode(';', $item),
            function($a, $el) {
                $p = explode(': ', $el);
                $a[trim($p[0])] = trim($p[1]);
                return $a;
            },
            []
        );
        array_push($acc, $s);
        return $acc;
    },
    []
);
        
print_r($res);

Run PHP code here

edited Aug 04 '21 at 07:15

answered Sep 04 '20 at 15:21

Slava Rozhnev

9,510
6
23
39

1

This answer is missing its educational explanation. – mickmackusa Aug 04 '21 at 03:26

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 04 '20 at 15:36

Just for fun one more way to do it:

$arr = array(
  "action: Added; amount: 1; code: RNA1; name: Mens Organic T-shirt; colour: White; size: XL",
  "action: Subtracted; amount: 7; code: RNC1; name: Kids Basic T-shirt; colour: Denim Blue; size: 3-4y",
  "action: Added; amount: 20; code: RNV1; name: Gift Voucher; style: Mens; value: £20",
);

$result = array_map(function($line) {
    return array_combine(...array_map(null, ...array_chunk(preg_split('/[:;]\s+/', $line), 2)));

}, $arr);

print_r($result);

Basically here we split the line by the two possible separators either : or ; followed by spaces.

Then the array_chunk function groups the key and values together and we get for each line something like this:

        Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [0] => action
                    [1] => Added
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [0] => amount
                    [1] => 1
                )
* * *

By spreading and mapping the array above we get it's rotated version like this:

Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [0] => action
                    [1] => amount
* * *
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Added
                    [1] => 1
* * *
                )
        )

We can now spread this array and pass it to the array_combine function so we have a nice associative array filled with the desired keys and values.

Then we map all lines and this way we get the nicely formatted result.

Here is the final fiddle.

How can I convert an array of strings into an associative array in PHP?

6 Answers6

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