Create Multi dimension recursive regex with php pairs / array from preg_match_all

Question

I have the following string which I need to be bale to extract the parameters from in order to process the next part of the code. I have manage to do this by doing multiple preg_match_all, but it is not very efficient and/or dynamic.

Example strings (the source might contain multiples): <==OBJECTSTART==>type=>sqltable,objectid=>4000001,options=>1|5|2<==OBJECTEND==>

<==OBJECTSTART==>type=>sqltable,objectid=>4000002,options=>3|8|5<==OBJECTEND==>

What I have so far I have go to the following for a regex expression:

/<==OBJECTSTART==>((. ?),)(. ?)<==OBJECTEND==>/

This gives me the information before the first comma but I have tried the usual + and * to give me a repeat iteration but no luck.

ideally I am looking for an array of objects that looks like the following

[0]=>

[type]=sqltable
[objected]=4000001
[options]=1|5|2

[1]=>

[type]=sqltable
[objected]=4000002
[options]=3|8|5

thanks in advance!

Answer 1

This may not be the most elegant way of parsing this, but I think it gets the job done:

$str = <<<EOS
<==OBJECTSTART==>type=>sqltable,objectid=>4000001,options=>1|5|2<==OBJECTEND==>
<==OBJECTSTART==>type=>sqltable,objectid=>4000002,options=>3|8|5<==OBJECTEND==>
EOS;

foreach (explode(PHP_EOL, $str) as $line) {
    $line = preg_replace('/<==OBJECTSTART==>(.*)<==OBJECTEND==>/', '\1', $line);
    $pairs = explode(',', $line);

    $data = array();
    foreach ($pairs as $pair) {
        list ($key, $value) = explode('=>', $pair);
        $data[$key] = $value;
    }
    $result[] = $data;
}
print_r($result);

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [type] => sqltable
            [objectid] => 4000001
            [options] => 1|5|2
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [type] => sqltable
            [objectid] => 4000002
            [options] => 3|8|5
        )

)

Answer 2

First extract that is between <==OBJECTSTART==> and <==OBJECTEND==>

  $str= substr($str, strlen("<==OBJECTSTART==>"), -1 * strlen("<==OBJECTEND==>"));

Then get all pairs attribute/value

  preg_match_all("#([^\=]*)\=>([^\,<]*)#",str,values);

Finally, combines the keys and the values in a array

  $result= array_combine( $values[1], $values[2] );