Convert dot-delimited keypath string and a value declaration to a multidimensional associative array

Question

I'm trying to create an array while parsing a string separated with dots

$string = "foo.bar.baz";
$value = 5

to

$arr['foo']['bar']['baz'] = 5;

I parsed the keys with

$keys = explode(".",$string);

How could I do this?

Answer 1

You can do:

$keys = explode(".",$string);
$last = array_pop($keys);

$array = array();
$current = &$array;

foreach($keys as $key) {
    $current[$key] = array();
    $current = &$current[$key];
}

$current[$last] = $value;

DEMO

You can easily make a function out if this, passing the string and the value as parameter and returning the array.