PHP parsing string to array with regular expressions

Question

I have a string like this:

$msg,array('goo','gle'),000,"face",'book',['twi'=>'ter','link'=>'edin']

I want to use preg_match_all to convert this to an array that could look like this:

array(
 0 => $msg,
 1 => array('goo','gle'),
 2 => 000,
 3 => "face",
 4 => 'book',
 5 => ['twi'=>'ter','link'=>'edin']
);

Note that all the values are string .

I am not very good at regular expressions, so I have just been unable to create a Pattern for this. Multiple preg calls will also do.

• AbraCadaver: Well, I already answered, but is ['twi'=>'ter','link'=>'edin'] and others a STRING or should they define an actual array?
• anwerj: No they all should go as string.

Answer 1

I suggest using preg_split with the following regex:

$re = "/([a-z]*(?:\\[[^]]*\\]|\\([^()]*\\)),?)|(?<=,)/"; 
$str = "\$msg,array('goo','gle'),000,\"face\",'book',['twi'=>'ter','link'=>'edin']"; 
print_r(preg_split($re, $str, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE | PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY));

Output of the sample program:

Array
(
 [0] => $msg,
 [1] => array('goo','gle'),
 [2] => 000,
 [3] => "face",
 [4] => 'book',
 [5] => ['twi'=>'ter','link'=>'edin']
)

Answer 2

I know you asked for a regular expression solution, however I'm on an eval() kick today:

eval('$array = array('.$string.');');
print_r($array);

Also note that 000 is NOT a string and will be converted to 0.

• Rizier123: Seems like you have an evil() day today :)?