Check the 'form' of a multidimensional array for validation

Question

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recursive array_diff()?

I have a static multidimensional array which is always going to be in the same form. E.g. it will have the same keys & hierarchy.

I want to check a posted array to be in the same 'form' as this static array and if not error.

I have been trying various methods but they all seem to end up with a lot of if...else components and are rather messy.

Is there a succinct way to achieve this?

In response to an answer from dfsq:

$etalon = array(
    'name' => array(),
    'income' => array(
        'day'   => '',
        'month' => array(),
        'year'  => array()
    ),
    'message' => array(),
);

$test = array(
    'name' => array(),
    'income' => array(
        'day'   => '',
        'month' => array(),
        'year'  => array()
    ),
    'message' => array(),
);

// Tests
$diff = array_diff_key_recursive($etalon, $test);
var_dump(empty($diff));
print_r($diff);

And the results from that are

bool(false) 
Array ( [name] => 1 [income] => Array ( [month] => 1 [year] => 1 ) [message] => 1 )

dfsq · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-12T15:16:06.487

5

Author needs a solution which would test if the structure of the arrays are the same. Next function will make a job.

/**
 * $a1 array your static array.
 * $a2 array array you want to test.
 * @return array difference between arrays. empty result means $a1 and $a2 has the same structure.
 */ 
function array_diff_key_recursive($a1, $a2)
{
    $r = array();

    foreach ($a1 as $k => $v)
    {
        if (is_array($v))
        {
            if (!isset($a2[$k]) || !is_array($a2[$k]))
            {
                $r[$k] = $a1[$k];
            }
            else
            {
                if ($diff = array_diff_key_recursive($a1[$k], $a2[$k]))
                {
                    $r[$k] = $diff;
                }
            }
        }
        else
        {
            if (!isset($a2[$k]) || is_array($a2[$k]))
            {
                $r[$k] = $v;
            }
        }
    }

    return $r;
}

And test it:

$etalon = array(
    'name' => '',
    'income' => array(
        'day'   => '',
        'month' => array(),
        'year'  => array()
    ),
    'message' => ''
);

$test = array(
    'name' => 'Tomas Brook',
    'income' => array(
        'day'   => 123,
        'month' => 123,
        'year'  => array()
    )
);

// Tests
$diff = array_diff_key_recursive($etalon, $test);
var_dump(empty($diff));
print_r($diff);

This will output:

bool(false)
Array
(
    [income] => Array
    (
        [month] => Array()

    )

    [message] => 
)

So checking for emptiness of $diff array will tell you if arrays have the same structure.

Note: if you need you can also test it in other direction to see if test array has some extra keys which are not present in original static array.

edited Oct 12 '11 at 15:16

answered Oct 12 '11 at 13:32

dfsq

191,768
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Thanks I am giving this a go currently! – Julian S Oct 12 '11 at 13:55
Hi there, this doesnt seem to work properly im afraid. When the you put the `$a1` & `$a2` as the same structure it still gives an output of `Array ( [income] => Array ( [month] => 1 [year] => 1 ) ) ` Which suggests it has a problem with the empty arrays of `'month'` & `'year'` in the `$a1` array. – Julian S Oct 12 '11 at 14:13
Well if you define $a1 = Array([income] => Array( [month] => Array() [year] => Array() ) ), then its structure differs from $a2 = Array([income] => Array( [month] => 1 [year] => 1 ) ), because 1 is a scalar, not an array. If I understand what you mean. – dfsq Oct 12 '11 at 14:29
Sorry, the `Array ( [income] => Array ( [month] => 1 [year] => 1 ) )` was the return from the function e.g. it thought they were different. – Julian S Oct 12 '11 at 14:37
Could you post the example of your arrays so that I could see? Because for my arrays function works fine.. – dfsq Oct 12 '11 at 14:42
put code in my original question – Julian S Oct 12 '11 at 14:50
Well see: you have $etalon['name'] = array(), while $test['name'] = ''. So the comparison result is reasonable, arrays have different structure. – dfsq Oct 12 '11 at 14:57
Hi sorry that was a mistake in copying have amended as per my question. – Julian S Oct 12 '11 at 15:01
Oh, damn! sorry!! it was a mistake in my function that i forgot to fix. I fixed it in my testing script but not here. Check updated array_diff_key_recursive function (last line return $r; changes)! – dfsq Oct 12 '11 at 15:17

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 11 '12 at 15:32

3

You could user array_intersect_key() to check if they both contain the same keys. If so, the resulting array from that function will contain the same values as array_keys() on the source array.

AFAIK those functions aren't recursive, so you'd have to write a recursion wrapper around them.

See User-Notes on http://php.net/array_diff_key

edited Dec 11 '12 at 15:32

hakre

193,403
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836

answered Oct 12 '11 at 11:40

CodeCaster

147,647
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272

Hi, cheers for that I am going to give this a go and post the results in a bit. – Julian S Oct 12 '11 at 11:49

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 12 '11 at 11:38

1

Are you searching for the array_diff or array_diff_assoc functions?

answered Oct 12 '11 at 11:38

Gianpaolo Di Nino

1,139
5
17

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 12 '11 at 11:49

use foreach with the ifs...if u have different tests for the different inner keys eg

$many_entries = ("entry1" = array("name"=>"obi", "height"=>10));

and so on, first define functions to check the different keys then a foreach statement like this

foreach($many_entries as $entry)
    { 
        foreach($entry as $key => $val) 
            {
                switch($key)
                    {
                        case "name": //name function
                            //and so on
                    }
            }
    }

Check the 'form' of a multidimensional array for validation

4 Answers4