Question

I have a string I would like to separate and make a multidimensional array out of. The string looks like this:

$string = "item-size:large,color:blue,material:cotton,item-size:medium,color:red,material:silk,";

Unfortunately, I have no control over how the string is put together, which is why I’m trying to make this array.

My goal is to make an array like this:

$item[1]['color'] // = blue
$item[2]['material'] // = silk

So, here’s what I’ve done:

$item = array();

$i=0; // I know this is messy
$eachitem = explode("item-",$string);
array_shift($eachitem); // get rid of the first empty item  

foreach ($eachitem as $values) {

    $i++; // Again, very messy
    $eachvalue = explode(",",$values);
    array_pop($eachvalue); // get rid of the last comma before each new item

    foreach ($eachvalue as $key => $value) {

        $item[$i][$key] = $value;

    }

}

I’m obviously lost with this… any suggestions?

Answer 1

You’re mostly there. Just replace your inner foreach with

foreach ($eachvalue as $value) {
    $properties = explode(':', $value);
    $item[$i][$properties[0]] = $properties[1];

}