Dynamically Set Value Of Array (Layers Deep)

[MrFish]

I want to use a csv string to set the value of an index a few layers deep in an array. See my following array- This is for breadcrumbing purposes.

$links = array(	 "Home" => array(		  "alias" => "home",		  "link" => "index.php",		  "links" => array(			   "Communities" => array(					  "alias" => "Communities",					  "link" => "communities.php",					  "links" => array()									 ),			   "Home Plans" => array(					  "alias" => "Home-Plans",					  "link" => "plans",					  "links" => array()					    ),			   "Gallery" => array(					 "alias" => "Photo-Gallery",					 "link" => "galery.php",					 "links" => array()					   ),			   "About Us" => array(					 "alias" => "About-Us",					 "link" => "about.php",					 "links" => array(						  "Press" => array(							   "alias" => "press.php",							   "link" => "press.php",							   "links" => array()							  ),						  "Testimonials" => array(								 "alias" => "testimonials.php",								 "link" => "testimonials.php",								 "links" => array()							    )						 )				    ),			   "Contact Us" => array(					 "alias" => "Contact-Us",					 "link" => "contact.php",					 "links" => array()					 ),			   "Available Homes" => array(			  					  "alias" => "Available-Homes",					  "link" => "homes.php",					  "links" => array()					   ),			   "Homebuyer University" => array(					    "alias" => "Homebuyer-University",					    "link" => "homebuyer.php",					    "links" => array(							 "Finance Your Home" => array(									 "alias" => "Finance-Your-Home",									 "link" => "finance.php",									 "links" => array()								    ),							 "Solution Center" => array(									 "alias" => "Solution-Center",									 "link" => "solution.php",									 "links" => array()								    )						    )					   ),			   "Homeowners Corner" => array(					    "alias" => "Homeowner-Warranty",					    "link" => "homeowners.php",					    "links" => array()					   ),			   "Favorites" => array(					 "alias" => "Online-Favorites-Folder",					 "link" => "favorites_login.php",					 "links" => array(											  "View Favorites" => array(								 "alias" => "favorites.php",								 "link" => "favorites.php",								 "links" => array()								 )						 )				    ),			  )		   )	  )

The site I'm working on keeps page aliases inside a table called aliases. I want to dynaimcally load those aliases to certain sections of my array but giving it a little info to go off of-

$likes = array(		 "'gallery.php?gal=%'" => "Home,Gallery"	    );	       foreach($likes as $key => $value)    { // START OF FOREACH	 $query = "SELECT * FROM aliases WHERE als_url LIKE $key";	 $result = mysql_query($query);		 $newLinks = array();	 while($arr = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))	 {	  $newLinks[str_replace("-", " " , $arr[als_slug])] = array(					 "alias" => $arr[als_slug],					 "link" => $arr[als_url],					 "links" => array()					 );	 }

And the string "Home,Gallery" could be of any length and automatically go to that index of the array. To do that I wanted to use eval-

$arrString = "\$links";	 $parts = explode(",", $value);	 foreach($parts as $part)	 {	  $arrString .= "[$part][links]";	 }		 //Testing... does not work...	 echo $arrString;	 print_r(eval($arrString));    } // END OF FOREACH

This prints- $links[Home][links][Gallery][links] So I would think if this was evaled it would work. But I get nothing. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

[justsomeguy]

For one, the array keys aren't quoted.

[MrFish]

For one, the array keys aren't quoted.

Not required. Figured it out. Results-

$likes = array(		 "'gallery.php?gal=%'" => "Home,Gallery"	    );	       foreach($likes as $key => $value)    {	 $query = "SELECT * FROM aliases WHERE als_url LIKE $key";	 $result = mysql_query($query);		 $newLinks = array();	 while($arr = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))	 {	  $newLinks['"' . str_replace("-", " " , $arr[als_slug]) . '"'] = array(					 "'alias'" => $arr[als_slug],					 "'link'" => $arr[als_url],					 "'links'" => array()					 );	 }		 $arrString = "";	 $parts = explode(",", $value);	 foreach($parts as $part)	 {	  $arrString .= "['$part']['links']";	 }		 ob_start();	  print_r($newLinks);	 $arrOutput = ob_get_clean();		 $arrOutput = str_replace("Array", "array", $arrOutput);	 $arrOutput = preg_replace("|( => )([^\[\(]+)( \[)|U", "$1'$2',$3", $arrOutput);	 $arrOutput = str_replace("[\"", "\"", $arrOutput);	 $arrOutput = str_replace("\"]", "\"", $arrOutput);	 $arrOutput = str_replace("['", "'", $arrOutput);	 $arrOutput = str_replace("']", "'", $arrOutput);	 $arrOutput = preg_replace('|array[\s]+\([\s]+\)[\s]+\)[\s]+"|U', 'array ( ) ), "', $arrOutput);		 eval("\$links$arrString = $arrOutput;");    }

Wish there was a simpler way but this is what I came up with.

[justsomeguy]

Not required.

If you want to ignore low-level errors, then you're right, it's not required. PHP thinks you're referring to a constant and will take the time to look that up first before it issues a notice and uses a string, but if you're ignoring notices then you'll never see the error message. It's not a good practice to do that, but you're right, it's not "required". You may want to look into var_export instead of trying to replace the output from print_r. Also, if you pass true as the second parameter to print_r then it will return the output instead of printing it and then you don't need to use buffering to capture it.

[MrFish]

Ah, That makes sense.