Question

Possible Duplicate:
PHP convert nested array to single array while concatenating keys?
Get array's key recursively and create underscore seperated string

Please, read the whole question before answering.

I have this multidimensional array:

$data = array(
    'user' => array(
        'email'   => '[e-mail]',
        'name'    => 'Super User',
        'address' => array(
            'billing' => 'Street 1',
            'delivery' => 'Street 2'
        )
    ),
    'post' => 'Hello, World!'
);

I want it flatten, transformed into:

$data = array(
    'user.email' => '[e-mail]',
    'user.name'  => 'Super User',
    'user.address.billing'  => 'Street 1',
    'user.address.delivery' => 'Street 2',
    'post'       => 'Hello, World!'
);

Important:

• The keys are very important to me. I want them concatenated, separated by periods.

• It should work with any level of nesting.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Thanks for all the given answers.

I have transformed it in the following, which is an improved version. It eliminates the need of a root prefix, does not need to use references, it is cleaner to read, and it has a better name:

function array_flat($array, $prefix = '')
{
    $result = array();

    foreach ($array as $key => $value)
    {
        $new_key = $prefix . (empty($prefix) ? '' : '.') . $key;

        if (is_array($value))
        {
            $result = array_merge($result, array_flat($value, $new_key));
        }
        else
        {
            $result[$new_key] = $value;
        }
    }

    return $result;
}