Convert Var_Dump of Array Back to Array Variable

Convert var_dump of array back to array variable

var_export or serialize is what you're looking for. var_export will render a PHP parsable array syntax, and serialize will render a non-human readable but reversible "array to string" conversion...

Edit Alright, for the challenge:

Basically, I convert the output into a serialized string (and then unserialize it). I don't claim this to be perfect, but it appears to work on some pretty complex structures that I've tried...

function unvar_dump($str) {
    if (strpos($str, "\n") === false) {
        //Add new lines:
        $regex = array(
            '#(\\[.*?\\]=>)#',
            '#(string\\(|int\\(|float\\(|array\\(|NULL|object\\(|})#',
        );
        $str = preg_replace($regex, "\n\\1", $str);
        $str = trim($str);
    }
    $regex = array(
        '#^\\040*NULL\\040*$#m',
        '#^\\s*array\\((.*?)\\)\\s*{\\s*$#m',
        '#^\\s*string\\((.*?)\\)\\s*(.*?)$#m',
        '#^\\s*int\\((.*?)\\)\\s*$#m',
        '#^\\s*bool\\(true\\)\\s*$#m',
        '#^\\s*bool\\(false\\)\\s*$#m',
        '#^\\s*float\\((.*?)\\)\\s*$#m',
        '#^\\s*\[(\\d+)\\]\\s*=>\\s*$#m',
        '#\\s*?\\r?\\n\\s*#m',
    );
    $replace = array(
        'N',
        'a:\\1:{',
        's:\\1:\\2',
        'i:\\1',
        'b:1',
        'b:0',
        'd:\\1',
        'i:\\1',
        ';'
    );
    $serialized = preg_replace($regex, $replace, $str);
    $func = create_function(
        '$match', 
        'return "s:".strlen($match[1]).":\\"".$match[1]."\\"";'
    );
    $serialized = preg_replace_callback(
        '#\\s*\\["(.*?)"\\]\\s*=>#', 
        $func,
        $serialized
    );
    $func = create_function(
        '$match', 
        'return "O:".strlen($match[1]).":\\"".$match[1]."\\":".$match[2].":{";'
    );
    $serialized = preg_replace_callback(
        '#object\\((.*?)\\).*?\\((\\d+)\\)\\s*{\\s*;#', 
        $func, 
        $serialized
    );
    $serialized = preg_replace(
        array('#};#', '#{;#'), 
        array('}', '{'), 
        $serialized
    );

    return unserialize($serialized);
}

I tested it on a complex structure such as:

array(4) {
  ["foo"]=>
  string(8) "Foo"bar""
  [0]=>
  int(4)
  [5]=>
  float(43.2)
  ["af"]=>
  array(3) {
    [0]=>
    string(3) "123"
    [1]=>
    object(stdClass)#2 (2) {
      ["bar"]=>
      string(4) "bart"
      ["foo"]=>
      array(1) {
        [0]=>
        string(2) "re"
      }
    }
    [2]=>
    NULL
  }
}

How to create an array from output of var_dump in PHP?

Use var_export if you want a representation which is also valid PHP code

$a = array (1, 2, array ("a", "b", "c"));
$dump=var_export($a, true);
echo $dump;

will display

array (
 0 => 1,
 1 => 2,
 2 => 
 array (
   0 => 'a',
   1 => 'b',
   2 => 'c',
 ),
)

To turn that back into an array, you can use eval, e.g.

eval("\$foo=$dump;");
var_dump($foo);

Not sure why you would want to do this though. If you want to store a PHP data structure somewhere and then recreate it later, check out serialize() and unserialize() which are more suited to this task.

How to convert output of var_dump to array or variable?

Simply you have to write following it will return array.

$data = $datetime1->diff($datetime2);  //Return Object
$data = (array) $datetime1->diff($datetime2);  //Return Array

Object Output

$data->y = 0  //year
$data->m = 11 //month 
$data->d = 1  //day
$data->h = 1  //hour
$data->i = 8  //minute
$data->s = 33 //second

Array Output

$data['y'] = 0  //year
$data['m'] = 11 //month 
$data['d'] = 1  //day
$data['h'] = 1  //hour
$data['i'] = 8  //minute
$data['s'] = 33 //second

Demo

Save var_dump output array objects into a variable

First, assign the result of getMarketSummary to a variable. That way you'll be able to do other things with the result without calling that function again.

$result = $b->getMarketSummary($market);

Then, the result is just an object inside an array. Based on the method name, it looks like you would only expect one object in the array, so you shouldn't need to loop. Just use array and object notation to refer to the value you want.

$ask = $result[0]->Ask;

If I'm mistaken and it does return an array with more than one object, you can loop over it and do the same basic thing.

foreach ($result as $item) {
    $ask = $item->Ask;
    echo $ask; // or whatever you're doing with it
}

Convert string (which is array) back to array

I think I've got it, it's stored wrong into the database. It should be stored as json_encode($data), and retreived as json_decode($data, true).

But an other way is to store it as serialize($data) and retreive it with unserialize($data)

var_dump array returning my string, double?

You need to save onlye the data you need in the Session

$_SESSION['id'] = $id['id'];
$_SESSION['naam'] = $naam['name'];

In your case you are saving the entire result from the function mysqli_fetch_assoc, which is an array, as you can see from the docs:

http://php.net/manual/en/mysqli-result.fetch-assoc.php

Unexpected observation: var_dump() of an array is flagging referenced elements... since when?

Not sure if this answers your question, but you can use

debug_zval_dump($array);

to get the refcount:

array(4) refcount(2){ 
    [0]=> long(1) refcount(1) 
    [1]=> &long(2) refcount(2) 
    [2]=> long(3) refcount(1) 
    [3]=> &long(4) refcount(2) 
} 

Also see this Article by Derick Rethans (PHP Core Dev) about Refcounting.

How to read var_dump in order to know how to load its variable contents in to an array with a foreach?

Before we can decipher it, we have to format it.

Tobias Kun's answer shows a very good way to format the var_dump output so you can read it.

object(stdClass)#1 (2)
{
    ["noun"]=>
            object(stdClass)#2 (1)
            {
                ["syn"]=> array(24)
                {
                    [0]=> string(12) "domestic dog"
                    [1]=> string(16) "Canis familiaris"
                    [2]=> string(5) "frump"
                    [3]=> string(3) "cad"
                    [4]=> string(7) "bounder"
                    [5]=> string(10) "blackguard"
                    [6]=> string(5) "hound"
                    [7]=> string(4) "heel"
                    [8]=> string(5) "frank"
                    [9]=> string(11) "frankfurter"
                    [10]=> string(6) "hotdog"
                    [11]=> string(7) "hot dog"
                    [12]=> string(6) "wiener"
                    [13]=> string(11) "wienerwurst"
                    [14]=> string(6) "weenie"
                    [15]=> string(4) "pawl"
                    [16]=> string(6) "detent"
                    [17]=> string(5) "click"
                    [18]=> string(7) "andiron"
                    [19]=> string(7) "firedog"
                    [20]=> string(8) "dog-iron"
                    [21]=> string(8) "blighter"
                    [22]=> string(5) "canid"
                    [23]=> string(6) "canine"
                    [24]=> string(5) "catch"
                }
            }
}

You have a stdClass object with a property called ,"noun". noun is an abject with a property called "syn", which is an array of strings.

Suppose we call the object $object. Then we can access the array like:

echo $object->noun->syn[23];

which gives us canine. So a loop might look like:

foreach($data->noun->syn as $value) {
    echo $value . "<br>\n";
}

How can I capture the result of var_dump to a string?

Use output buffering:

<?php
ob_start();
var_dump($someVar);
$result = ob_get_clean();
?>

php var_dump() vs print_r()

The var_dump function displays structured information about variables/expressions including its type and value. Arrays are explored recursively with values indented to show structure. It also shows which array values and object properties are references.

The print_r() displays information about a variable in a way that's readable by humans. array values will be presented in a format that shows keys and elements. Similar notation is used for objects.

Example:

$obj = (object) array('qualitypoint', 'technologies', 'India');

var_dump($obj) will display below output in the screen.

object(stdClass)#1 (3) {
 [0]=> string(12) "qualitypoint"
 [1]=> string(12) "technologies"
 [2]=> string(5) "India"
}

And, print_r($obj) will display below output in the screen.

stdClass Object ( 
 [0] => qualitypoint
 [1] => technologies
 [2] => India
)

More Info

• var_dump
• print_r

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