Question

I have this data (columns are depth, name, value, the order is correct):

0, id,    12
0, name,  Name
0, pages,
1, 0,     Page 1
1, 1,     Page 2
1, 2,     Page 3
0, items,
1, 0,
2, id,    4
2, title, Example Items

And I’m trying to produce an array structure like this from it:

Array
(
    [id] => 12
    [name] => Name
    [pages] => Array
        (
            [0] => Page 1
            [1] => Page 1
            [2] => Page 1
        )
    [items] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 4
                    [title] => Example Item
                )
        )
)

Every attempt I’ve tried so far has failed, I just cant seem to get my head round the logic. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

You can accomplish this with a bit of reference trickery. If you have your CSV input converted into a list like:

$in = array_map("str_getcsv", explode("\n", $table));

Then you can traverse it like:

$data = array();

foreach ($in as $row) {
    list ($depth, $key, $value) = $row;

    $r = & $data;  // start from base array, then submerge $n last keys
    while ($depth--) { end($r); $r = & $r[key($r)]; }

    $r[$key] = $value;
}

At least works for your example:

Array
(
    [id] => 12
    [name] => Name
    [pages] => Array
        (
            [0] => Page 1
            [1] => Page 2
            [2] => Page 3
        )

    [items] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 4
                    [title] => Example Items
                )

        )

)