Splitting text into an associative array

Question

Let's say, I have this text:

add name=100YER on-login=":do {:put \"a\";} on-error={};" rate-limit=256k/512k

I want to extract an array with key and value, eg:

{
    "name": "100YER",
    "on-login": ":do {:put \"a\";} on-error={};"
    "rate-limit": "256k/512k"
}

How to do that if there is another value contains a = character?

I used this regex to split it by =, but the problem is in on-login value.

if (preg_match_all('/[^=]+/i', $response, $MATCHES) ){
    //
}

Answer 1

You might use 2 capturing groups with a branch reset group:

(\w+(?:-\w+)*)=(?|"((?:[^"]+|(?<=\\)")++)"|([^"\s]+))

Explanation

• ( Capture group 1
  • \w+(?:-\w+)* Match 1+ word chars optionally followed by a - and 1+ word chars
• ) Close group 1
• = Match literally
• (?| Branch reset group
  • "( Match " and start group 2
    • (?:[^"]+|(?<=\\)")++ Match any char except " or \"
  • )" Close group 2 and match "
  • | Or
  • ([^"\s]+) Capture group 3, match any char except " or a whitespace char
• ) Close branch reset group

Regex demo | Php demo

For example

$re = '/(\w+(?:-\w+)*)=(?|"((?:[^"]+|(?<=\\\\)")++)"|([^"\s]+))/';
$str = 'add name=100YER on-login=":do {:put \\"a\\";} on-error={};" rate-limit=256k/512k';

preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches);
$result = array_combine($matches[1], $matches[2]);
print_r($result);

Output

Array
(
    [name] => 100YER
    [on-login] => :do {:put \"a\";} on-error={};
    [rate-limit] => 256k/512k
)