How Can I Efficiently Parse a Comma-Separated Key-Value String into a PHP Associative Array?

Parsing Comma-Separated Key-Value String into Associative Array

In PHP, encountering a string containing key-value pairs separated by commas can pose a parsing challenge. Traditionally, one might resort to a combination of explode() and foreach loops to break down the string.

A Simpler Approach with Regular Expressions

However, for a more efficient solution, consider utilizing regular expressions:

$str = "key=value, key2=value2";
preg_match_all("/([^,= ]+)=([^,= ]+)/", $str, $r); 
$result = array_combine($r[1], $r[2]);

Let's break down this code:

1. preg_match_all() scans the string for all occurrences of the regular expression pattern. The pattern looks for sequences of characters ([^,= ] ) followed by an equal sign (=) and another sequence of characters ([^,= ] ) that are not commas, equals signs, or spaces.
2. The resulting matches are stored in the $r array, with each key-value pair appearing in the $r[1] (keys) and $r[2] (values) arrays.
3. array_combine() conveniently combines these two arrays, merging the key and value arrays into a single associative array ($result).

Example Output

var_dump($result);

// Output
array(2) {
  ["key"]=> string(5) "value"
  ["key2"]=> string(6) "value2"
}

This approach offers a concise and performant method for transforming a comma-separated key-value string into a PHP associative array.

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