Explode string into nested array

Question

I would like to convert these strings into a combined nested array:

array(
    \'item1:item2:itemx\',
    \'item1:item2:itemy\',
    \'itemz\'
)

Answer 1

This question has been answered countless of times... please use search before posting a new question.

Anyway, here's one solution:

$strings = array(
                 'item1:item2:itemx',
                 'item1:item2:itemy',
                 'itemz'
                );

$nested_array = array();

foreach($strings as $item) {
    $temp = &$nested_array;

    foreach(explode(':', $item) as $key) {
        $temp = &$temp[$key];
    }

    $temp = array();
}

var_dump($nested_array);