Eval string to array

[Gerard Samuel]

Im trying to evaluate a string representation of the output of
var_export(),
as an array.
To make a long story short, Im using curl to fetch another php page,
that uses var_export to echo out php data structures.
The fetched data via curl, is a string. Something like ->
array ( 'foo' => 'bar', )

I would like to convert this to a real array.
Im currently trying this ->
$ret = curl_exec($this->curl_handle);
$str = '$array = $ret;';
eval($str);
var_dump($ret, $array);

The resulting var_dump() shows that my eval'ed data is still a string.
string(27) "array ( 'foo' => 'bar', )" string(27) "array ( 'foo' =>
'bar', )"
What should I be doing to get it as an array ->
array(1) { ["foo"]=> string(3) "bar" }

Thanks for your time.

[Jochem Maas]

Post by Gerard Samuel
Im trying to evaluate a string representation of the output of
var_export(),
as an array.
To make a long story short, Im using curl to fetch another php page,
that uses var_export to echo out php data structures.
The fetched data via curl, is a string. Something like ->
array ( 'foo' => 'bar', )

something LIKE? or exactly that?

anyway I don't have problems with this...

php -r '

eval("\$arr = array ( \"foo\" => \"bar\", );");
$arr1 = var_export($arr, true);
eval("\$arr2 = $arr1;");
var_dump($arr,$arr1,$arr2);

'

...took me a couple of
mins to figure out how you could be....

Post by Gerard Samuel
I would like to convert this to a real array.
Im currently trying this ->
$ret = curl_exec($this->curl_handle);
$str = '$array = $ret;';

this is your problems. its to do with string interpolation.
your exec() call is equivelant to

$array = $ret;

guess what that makes $array?
so it should be:

exec("\$array = $ret;");

which will replace the string $ret into the string to be
exec()'ed. alternatively:

exec('$array = '.$ret.';');

geddit?

Post by Gerard Samuel
eval($str);
var_dump($ret, $array);

next time paste the actual var_dump output, its easier. :-)

[Gerard Samuel]

Post by Jochem Maas

Post by Gerard Samuel
Im trying to evaluate a string representation of the output of
var_export(),
as an array.
To make a long story short, Im using curl to fetch another php page,
that uses var_export to echo out php data structures.
The fetched data via curl, is a string. Something like ->
array ( 'foo' => 'bar', )

something LIKE? or exactly that?
anyway I don't have problems with this...
php -r '
eval("\$arr = array ( \"foo\" => \"bar\", );");
$arr1 = var_export($arr, true);
eval("\$arr2 = $arr1;");
var_dump($arr,$arr1,$arr2);
'
...took me a couple of
mins to figure out how you could be....

For now, exactly like.
This is what I extracted from your example for it to work ->
$ret = str_replace("\n", '', curl_exec($this->curl_handle));
eval("\$arr = $ret;");
$arr1 = var_export($arr, true);
var_dump($arr);

Post by Jochem Maas

Post by Gerard Samuel
I would like to convert this to a real array.
Im currently trying this ->
$ret = curl_exec($this->curl_handle);
$str = '$array = $ret;';

this is your problems. its to do with string interpolation.
your exec() call is equivelant to
$array = $ret;
guess what that makes $array?
exec("\$array = $ret;");
which will replace the string $ret into the string to be
exec('$array = '.$ret.';');
geddit?

gotit

Post by Jochem Maas

Post by Gerard Samuel
eval($str);
var_dump($ret, $array);

next time paste the actual var_dump output, its easier. :-)

It was in the original email. Just not where you thought it would have
been ;)

Thanks for your help.