Spilt'ing INI-type file to multi-dim'd array

s_shrum

Hi there....

Long time Perl programmer, newbie PHP coder...

I have an INI-type file in which my key-values are structured like this:

myfile.ini

me=Sean
foo=bar

etc=etc

Can someone send me (or refer me to) the code that will allow me to:

1) open the file

2) split the key/values on '='; bearing in mind that each key/value pairing is on seperate lines typically ended with /n/r

3) foreach() output the values.

All the books I have on PHP deal only with single dimensioned arrays; typically defined programmatically...which begs the followup question: Does PHP support multidim'ed array constructs?

TIA

Sean Shrum

s_shrum

I just read parse_ini_file().

How do I do a foreach() loop on the array? I am looking for something like (pardon my Perl-ese):

foreach ( $myfile_ini ) {

echo ( $myfile_ini[$][0] . "-" . $myfile_ini[$][1] . "<br>");

}

TIA

Sean Shrum

Weedpacket

Too long since I've done any Perl (really should get in practice I s'pose, but I thought I'd wait until Perl6 was finalised 🙂)

The two syntaxes of foreach() are

foreach($array as $value)
{ // giving you each successive value in the array
}

and

foreach($array as $key=>$value)
{ // giving you each successive key/value pair, i.e.
// such that $array[$key]==$value
}

Dunno if you're respecting sections in the .ini file, (by setting that flag), but if you aren't, then you'll be wanting

foreach($myfile_ini as $key=>$value)
{ echo $key.'-'.$value.'<br>';
}

If you are, then you'd want a nested pair of foreach loops, with the outer one iterating over the sections.

dalecosp

So, does that answer the construct question?

I know nothing about Perl, but in PHP you have to nest loops a lot when dealing with multi-dim arrays....is Perl more elegant there?

(from your resident Senior Member noob...)

BTW, s_shrum, when you get an answer from Weedpacket, it's as if Providence smiles on you that day

s_shrum

In PHP, you have to (or at least what I have done) create a FOR loop in which you increment $i++ and use $i in the multi-dim row call, ala:

$myarray[foo][$i]

As I get more into PHP I believe that a foreach would work but I have yet to see code that deals with a multi-dim'ed array. So far the deepest I've gone is 2 (like above).

In Perl, you still have to nest loops for each dimension so in answer to your question, I'd say they are about the same.

? - is an ASSOCIATIVE ARRAY considered the same as a MULTI-DIMENSIONED ARRAY? All the PHP books use the term 'associative' and never use 'dimension'. This is the first I've heard that term.

Sean Shrum

dalecosp

Well, that answers my question. In the PHP manual you'll see nested foreach() loops,

foreach ($array as $n) {
   foreach ($n as $somevar) {

or something like that, and I guess the "foreach($array as $key=>$value)" would be handy in many cases, but I often do as you do and use a nested set of for() loops, taxes my three brain cells less....

I'm still waiting for the doexactlywhatiintended() function, and hoping they'll write an instantdebug() as well....

devinemke

? - is an ASSOCIATIVE ARRAY considered the same as a MULTI-DIMENSIONED ARRAY? All the PHP books use the term 'associative' and never use 'dimension'. This is the first I've heard that term.

in PHP, techinally all arrays are ASSOCIATIVE in that if the keys of the array are not explicitly given then they are assigned numbers starting at 0.

$array = array ('William', 'Jefferson', 'Clinton');
print_r ($array);

outputs:
[0] => William
[1] => Jefferson
[2] => Clinton

$array = array ('first' => 'William', 'middle' => 'Jefferson', 'last' =>'Clinton');
print_r ($array);

outputs:
[first] => William
[middle] => Jefferson
[last] => Clinton

DIMENSION, on the other hand, deals with nesting arrays (the value of one array being an array itself).