Unset element in multi-dimensional array by path

Question

I'm trying to remove an element in a multidimensional array.

The element which is needs to be removed is given by a string like globals.connects.setting1. This means I'm intend to modify an array like this:

// Old Array
$old = array(
    "globals" => array(
        "connects" => array(
            "setting1" => "some value",
            "setting2" => "some other value",
            "logging" => array()),
    "someOtherKey" => 1
));

// After modification
$new = array(
    "globals" => array(
        "connects" => array(
            "setting2" => "some other value",
            "logging" => array()),
    "someOtherKey" => 1
));

Unfortunately I do not know either the "depth" of the given string nor the exact structure of the array. I'm looking for a function like unsetElement($path, $array) which returns the array $new, if the array $old and globals.connects.setting1 is given as argument.

I'd like to avoid the use of the eval() function due to security reasons.

Your code "example" is not valid PHP (and I'm not talking about the ellipsis). And this question, with valid code examples, has been answered several times on [so]. — axiac, Feb 22 '18 at 15:34
Discussed on Meta https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/363695/mark-as-duplicate-of-old-answer-after-adding-to-old-answer-or-not so unfortunately there will be some drive-by downvoters to everything. — AbraCadaver, Feb 22 '18 at 18:22
I'm sorry for the (stupid) question. In fact i was aware of the cited question (which this question is a duplicate of). But I had something in mind, that using unset in the context of references will remove the reference and not an element fo the referenced object. Obviously I was wrong. I'm sorry. Thanks a lot to everybody participating in the conversation. — Ingo, Feb 23 '18 at 09:20

score -1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 22 '18 at 16:19

  $testArr = [
        "globals" => [
            "connects" => [
                'setting1' => [
                    'test' => 'testCon1',
                ],
                'setting2' => [
                    'abc' => 'testCon2',
                ],
            ],
        ],
        'someOtherKey' => [],
    ];

$pathToUnset = "globals.connects.setting2";

    function unsetByPath(&$array, $path) {
        $path = explode('.', $path);
        $temp = & $array;

        foreach($path as $key) {
            if(isset($temp[$key])){
                if(!($key == end($path))) $temp = &$temp[$key];
            } else {
               return false; //invalid path
            }
        }
        unset($temp[end($path)]);
    }

    unsetByPath($testArr, $pathToUnset);

Unset element in multi-dimensional array by path

1 Answers1

Linked