PHP: Parse Unparse String Array

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PHP: Parse Unparse String Array

Here is a quick tip on parsing and unparsing string and array in PHP.

You can parses the string into variables by using the parse_str PHP function.

Using parse_str function

void parse_str ( string $str [, array &$arr ] )

$str = The input string.
$arr = If the second parameter arr is present, variables are stored in this variable as array elements instead.

Using single parameter

$str = "first=value&arr[]=foo+bar&arr[]=baz";
parse_str($str, $data);
echo $first;  // value
echo $arr[0]; // foo bar
echo $arr[1]; // baz

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$str = "first=value&arr[]=foo+bar&arr[]=baz";

parse_str($str, $data);

echo $first; // value

echo $arr[0]; // foo bar

echo $arr[1]; // baz

Using the second parameter

$str = "first=value&arr[]=foo+bar&arr[]=baz";
parse_str($str, $data);
echo "<pre>"; print_r($data); echo "</pre>";

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$str = "first=value&arr[]=foo+bar&arr[]=baz";

parse_str($str, $data);

echo "<pre>"; print_r($data); echo "</pre>";

The output will be:-

Array
(
    [first] => value
    [arr] => Array
        (
            [0] => foo bar
            [1] => baz
        )

)

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Array

(

[first] => value

[arr] => Array

(

[0] => foo bar

[1] => baz

)

You can unparse any array into string using the http_build_query function. This generates a URL-encoded query string from the associative (or indexed) array provided.

$data = array('foo'=>'bar',
              'baz'=>'boom',
              'cow'=>'milk',
              'php'=>'hypertext processor');

echo http_build_query($data); // foo=bar&baz=boom&cow=milk&php=hypertext+processor
echo http_build_query($data, '', '&amp;'); // foo=bar&amp;baz=boom&amp;cow=milk&amp;php=hypertext+processor

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$data = array('foo'=>'bar',

'baz'=>'boom',

'cow'=>'milk',

'php'=>'hypertext processor');

echo http_build_query($data); // foo=bar&baz=boom&cow=milk&php=hypertext+processor