Build tree of database schema in PHP

Question

I have some files with names of tables and names of tables which are referenced by the current table like this:

table1
table2, table3
-
table 2
table 4

This means table1 references to tables table2 and table3, and table2 references to table4. How can I to build the tree of tables, where keys are "parent" tables and children are referenced tables like this:

[table4] => array(
    [table2] => array([table1] => null),
)
[table3] => array([table1] => null)

So, my problem is I know how to parse to tree records in file like this:

name    | parent
------------------
table 1 | table 2
table 2 | table 4

But I don't know the best way how to parse to tree the structure, when ONE node has MULTIPLE parents.

Answer 1

Correct me if I'm wrong but that's not enough to have just the table you need also a table design. Hence you need a field value and a field id. That field id is most likely an unique id and can reference to the same table or to another table. For example table 1 has a field title and a field id. If the id reference to the same table you can use a self join. This model is called adjacency list model but I'm not sure what's the direction of the reference.