Convert var_dump of array back to array variable

Question

I have never really thought about this until today, but after searching the web I didn't really find anything. Maybe I wasn't wording it right in the search.

Given an array (of multiple dimensions or not):

$data = array('this' => array('is' => 'the'), 'challenge' => array('for' => array('you')));

When var_dumped:

array(2) { ["this"]=> array(1) { ["is"]=> string(3) "the" } ["challenge"]=> array(1) { ["for"]=> array(1) { [0]=> string(3) "you" } } }

The challenge is this: What is the best optimized method for recompiling the array to a useable array for PHP? Like an undump_var() function. Whether the data is all on one line as output in a browser or whether it contains the line breaks as output to terminal.

Is it just a matter of regex? Or is there some other way? I am looking for creativity.

UPDATE: Note. I am familiar with serialize and unserialize folks. I am not looking for alternative solutions. This is a code challenge to see if it can be done in an optimized and creative way. So serialize and var_export are not solutions here. Nor are they the best answers.

Answer 1

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
  }
}