Using a path to an array item

Question

Is there a way to reference an item within a multidimensional array by using a path or an array of path elements? EG.

$multi = array
(
    \'array_1\' => arra         


        

Answer 1

There's nothing built into PHP to do this but you can write a function for it, using a moving reference:

/**
 * @param string $path path in the form 'item_1.item_2.[...].item_n'
 * @param array $array original array
 */
function &get_from_array($path, &$array)
{
    $current =& $array;
    foreach(explode('.', $path) as $key) {
        $current =& $current[$key];
    }
    return $current;
}

Example:

// get element:
$result = get_from_array('level_1.level_2.option_1', $multi);
echo $result; // --> value_1

$result = 'changed option';
echo $multi['level_1']['level_2']['option_1']; // --> changed_option

I wrote it to convert names from configuration files to arrays, if you want to pass the path itself as an array like in your example, just leave out the explode.