note 24957 modified in function.explode by vincent

While explode() and implode() are helpful functions, I found I needed to write additional functions to correctly handle two dimensional arrays. Here are the two functions: // this is a replacement for the internal explode function so that // strings representing 2D arrays (ie matrices) maybe made again // into their array format function double_explode($first_break,$second_break,$string) { // creates array based on the first division character $array = explode($first_break, $string); // loops through the created array in search of any strings // that need to be converted to arrays for ($k=0; $k < count($array); $k++) { // the number of times the second division character // is present $count = substr_count($array[$k], $second_break); // if the second division character is present; ie, // if the string needs to be converted to an array if ($count>0) { // creates array from string and puts it in // the main array where the string was $array[$k] = explode($second_break, $array[$k]); } } return $array; } // just as double_explode functions akin to explode, so too does // double_implode to implode function double_implode($first_break, $second_break, $array) { $string = ""; $k=0; $num_length = count($array); foreach ($array as $key => $value) { // if the element of the main array is an array if (is_array($array[$key])) { // append the string of the converted arary to // the string being constructed of the whole // main array $string .= implode($second_break, $array[$key]); } else { // append the element to the string $string .= $array[$key]; } $k++; // append the delimiting character to the string $string .= $first_break; } return $string; } I imagine that there may be more efficient ways to do this; any examples would be welcome. I hope that someone finds this helpful. --was-- While explode() and implode() are helpful functions, I found I needed to write additional functions to correctly handle two dimensional arrays. Here are the two functions: // this is a replacement for the internal explode function so that // strings representing 2D arrays (ie matrices) maybe made again // into their array format function double_explode($first_break,$second_break,$string) { // creates array based on the first division character $array = explode($first_break, $string); // loops through the created array in search of any strings // that need to be converted to arrays for ($k=0; $k < count($array); $k++) { // the number of times the second division character // is present $count = substr_count($array[$k], $second_break); // if the second division character is present; ie, // if the string needs to be converted to an array if ($count>0) { // creates array from string and puts it in // the main array where the string was $array[$k] = explode($second_break, $array[$k]); } } return $array2; } // just as double_explode functions akin to explode, so too does // double_implode to implode function double_implode($first_break, $second_break, $array) { $string = ""; $k=0; $num_length = count($array); foreach ($array as $key => $value) { // if the element of the main array is an array if (is_array($array[$key])) { // append the string of the converted arary to // the string being constructed of the whole // main array $string .= implode($second_break, $array[$key]); } else { // append the element to the string $string .= $array[$key]; } $k++; // append the delimiting character to the string $string .= $first_break; } return $string; } I imagine that there may be more efficient ways to do this; any examples would be welcome. I hope that someone finds this helpful. http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.explode.php