PHP - how to cast multidimensional object? [duplicate]

Question

I am wondering if there is a built-in way in PHP to cast multidimensional objects to arrays?

The problem is when applying a regular casting on an object, the first dimension only is being affected, all other dimensions remind the same.

Note: I am interested in casting only!

Example:

$a = new stdClass();
$a->b = 'qwe';
$a->c = new stdClass();
$a->c->d = 'asd';

var_dump((array)$a); // echoes:

array(2) {
  ["b"]=>
  string(3) "qwe"
  ["c"]=>
  object(stdClass)#2 (1) {
    ["d"]=>
    string(3) "asd"
  }
}

As you can see only the first dimension was affected, so how to cast multidimensional objects?

I didn't quite get it. Your code and output seems correct. What exactly you've expected it to do? — alanmm
– alanmm, Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 11:02
I don't think you can do that, at least with var_dump or print_r. You could build a foreach that echoes your style and forces array casting whenever it finds a property that's an object. — alanmm
– alanmm, Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 11:06
Guys, please read the question carefully. I asked whether there is a built-in way. No need to provide answers with recursion. It is not built-in. — Boarking
– Boarking, Commented Aug 20, 2015 at 11:07

axiac · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-20 11:37:40Z

There is no official way to cast a multi-level object to an array but the good news is that there is a hack.

Use json_encode() to get a JSON representation of your object then pass the result to json_decode() and use TRUE as its second argument to get arrays instead of objects.

$a = new stdClass();
$a->b = 'qwe';
$a->c = new stdClass();
$a->c->d = 'asd';

print_r(json_decode(json_encode($a), TRUE));

The output is:

Array
(
    [b] => qwe
    [c] => Array
        (
            [d] => asd
        )

)

The method has some drawbacks (it cannot handle resources, for example) but they are just minor annoyances.

alanmm · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-20 11:31:21Z

0

Since your question is if it's possible using only a single built-in PHP function to recursively cast object and children objects as array, without even any user-made callback function, the answer is no, it can't be done like that.

There are other ways to achieve it, though.

answered Aug 20, 2015 at 11:31

alanmm

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