Question

In relation to this question i asked earlier: Searching multi-dimensional array's keys using a another array

I’d like a way to set a value in a multi-dimensional array (up to 6 levels deep), using a seperate array containing the keys to use.

e.g.

$keys = Array ('A', 'A2', 'A22', 'A221');
$cats[A][A2][A22][A221] = $val;

I tried writing a clumsy switch with little success… is there a better solution?

function set_catid(&$cats, $keys, $val) {
    switch (count($keys)) {
        case 1: $cats[$keys[0]]=$val; break;
        case 2: $cats[$keys[0]][$keys[1]]=$val; break;
        case 3: $cats[$keys[0]][$keys[1]][$keys[2]]=$val; break;
        etc...
    }
}

Answer 1

try this:

function set_catid(&$cats, $keys, $val) {
  $ref =& $cats;
  foreach ($keys as $key) {
    if (!is_array($ref[$key])) {
      $ref[$key] = array();
    }
    $ref =& $ref[$key];
  }
  $ref = $val;
}