Create php array from strings that contains bracket literals

Question

I have a number of strings, that contain the bracket literals:

0 => string '[139432,97]' (length=18)
1 => string '[139440,99]' (length=18)

I need to create string arrays of [139432,97] and [139440,99].

I've tried using json_decode(), but while it works, it creates arrays as float or int using the above data, however I want them as strings.

array (size=2)
0 => float 139432
1 => int 97

array (size=2)
0 => float 139440
1 => int 97

Answer 1

You can put double quotes around the values e.g.

0 => string '["139432","97"]' (length=22)
1 => string '["139440","99"]' (length=22)

This way when you json_decode they should be strings.

Edit:

OK I thought you could control the input - if not then a simple trim and explode could do:

explode(',', trim('[139432,97]', '[]'));

array(2) {
  [0]=>
  string(6) "139432"
  [1]=>
  string(2) "97"
}

Is that enough?

Answer 2

Just combining what you already now (json_decode) and what @AlixAxel suggested here you can extract those values to string link:

$subject = '[139432,97]';
$convertedToArrayOfStrings = array_map('strval', json_decode($subject));

or

$convertedToArrayOfString = array_map(function($item){return (string) $item;}, json_decode($subject));

for better performance, see the comment bellow please :)

Answer 3

Why not try with loop and use explode function:

$array = array('139432,97', '139440,99');
$finalArray = array();

$i = 0;
foreach ($array as $arr) {
    $explode = explode(",", $arr);
    $j = 0;
    foreach ($explode as $exp) {
       $finalArray[$i][$j] = (int)$exp;
       $j++;
    }
    $i++;
}