<?php
/***************************************
 * @Author: Aikar <daniel@fanetworks.net>
 * @Date: December 27th, 2007
 * @Description:
 * This function lets you take a string in the format of an array when defined in php such as
 * array ( 'a' => array ( 'b' => 'c', 'd' => 'e', ), 'f' => 'g', 'h' => array ( 'i' => 'j', 'k' => 'l', ), )
 * when passed as a string is returned as array. This is the equiv of doing $array = eval('return '.$myarray.';');
 * however, this does not use eval so it does not pose any security risk! This is a much safer
 * way of converting a string representation of an array to an actual array. This is not meant to
 * provide an alternate method to serialize/unserialize. This is meant for situations where you
 * or user would need to input data from a string input to pass arrayed information.
 *
 * Example Below Function
 ***************************************/
function var_import($string)
{
	//Trim it up
	$string=trim($string);
	//Did it start with array? the initial array declaration isnt needed
	if(substr($string,0,5) == 'array')
	{
		//clean off array( from start and ); from end
		$string = substr(trim(substr(rtrim($string,"; "),5,strlen($string)-6)),1);
	}
	$bS = false; //bool for open single quote
	$bD = false; //bool for open double quote
	$last = ''; //last char read before current that wasnt a space
	$newstring = ''; //the new rebuilt string
	for($i = 0;$i < strlen($string); $i++)
	{
		//Get the 1 character
		$c = substr($string,$i,1);
		//If its single or double quote and the boolean is false, set to true. Flag if the quotes are 'open'
		if($c == '"')	$bD = !$bD;
		if($c == "'") $bS = !$bS;
		//were using , as a seperator, we need to make sure there is a , before every ) that
		//isnt enclosed in brackets.
		if(!$bD && !$bS && $c == ')' && $last != ',') $newstring .= ',';
		//append to the new string
		$newstring .= $c;
		//we need to seperate ( from the key/value pairs after it, so add 'array' which is a seperator for the split
		if(!$bD && !$bS && $c == '(') $newstring .= 'array';
		//set the last char that wasnt a space
		if($c != ' ')	$last = $c;
	}
	//split the string. This splits elements into either a key=>value pair,
	// a ( to signal nesting a level deep, or a ) to signal going back a level of nesting.
	// or finally a blank entry signalling the current key is for the next nested array
	$chunks = split('(array|,)',$newstring);
	//Our initial array
	$array = array();
	//This is a pointer to the current nested level of the array.
	//We will constantly change this as we go deeper into nesting.
	$p =& $array;
	//the current depth level of the nest, used with $pL
	//$pL<$i> will hold a pointer back to that depth level of the array.
	//This lets us return back down a level of the array to continue building it
	$i = 0;
	//bKey boolean, signalling if the next nested element has a key name
	$bK = false;
	//this is the name of the key the next nested array should be set to.
	$bkey = '';
	//Run through our chunks.
	foreach($chunks as $chunk)
	{
		//Clean any junk
		$chunk = trim($chunk);
		//Make sure we actually got some data, some entries can result in empty data.
		if(strlen($chunk) > 0)
		{
			//Is it a closing parenthese? Decrement the pointer.
		  if($chunk == ')')
		  {
		  	//If depth $i was currently on 3, we return $p to the depth level of 2 ($pL2).
		  	$p =& ${'pL'.--$i};
		  }
		  //Is it an opening parenthese? Increment the pointer
		  else	if($chunk == '(')
		  {
		  	//If depth was 0, store $pL0 to the CURRENT depth.
		  	${'pL'.$i++} =& $p;
		  	//if a keyname was set, use it and assign the pointer to the next level in the array
		  	if($bK == true)
		  	{
		   		$p =& $p[$bkey];
		   		$bK = false;
		   	}else{
		   		//No key name given, just let php assign the keyname and point to that.
		   		$p =& $p[];
		   	}
			}
			else
			//We have a possible pair to enter
			{
				//has a seperator for key=>value
			  if(strpos($chunk,'=>'))
			  {
			  	list($key,$value) = explode('=>',$chunk,2);
			  }else{
			  	//no key name given, just a value.
			  	$key = '';
			  	$value = $chunk;
			  }
			  //trim our data
			  $key = trim($key);
			  $value = trim($value);
			  //some tricky foreach to prevent having to do this code twice for $key and $value
			  //if the value starts with ' then remove ' from beginning and end of value.
			  //do the same for "
			  foreach(array('key' => $key, 'value' => $value) as $sKey => $sValue)
			  {
			  	//is it a quote?
			  	if(substr($sValue,0,1) == '"' || substr($sValue,0,1) == "'")
			  	{
			  		//Remove the first and last character. If $sKey is 'key', then $key is set.
			  		$$sKey = substr($sValue,1,strlen($sValue)-2);
			  	}
			  }
			  //Check if we had a value
			  if(strlen($value) == 0)
			  {
			  	//We had a keyname... but no value.. this means the key name is the key name for the next nested array, store it
			  	$bK = true;
			  	$bkey = $key;
			  }else{
			  	//we have a value, but did we have a key name?
				  if(strlen($key)>0)
				  {
				  	//Add with the key
				  	$p[$key] = $value;
				  }else{
				  	//Let PHP generate the key name
				  	$p[] = $value;
				  }
				}
			}
		}
	}
	//Return our finished array
	return $array;
}

/***********
 * EXAMPLE CODE
 ***********/
$array = array (
  'a' =>
  array (
    'b' => 'c',
    'd' => 'e',
  ),
  'f' => 'g',
  'h' =>
  array (
    'i' => 'j',
    'k' => 'l',
  ),
);
echo '<pre>';
$export = var_export($array,true);
echo "Contents from var_export of a properly formatted array:\n";
echo $export;
echo "\nprint_r of ACTUAL array:\n";
print_r($array);
echo "\nprint_r of array built from var_import:\n";
print_r(var_import($export));
echo "\nThe 2 print_r's should be identical.\nHeres a manually created print_r array:\n";
$stringarray="array('a' => 'b', 'c' => array('d' => 'e'));";
print_r(var_import($stringarray));