在没有很多循环的PHP中访问嵌套数组

Question

Consider the following:

$dropdown = array (
    "unitofmeasure" => array (
        "m"     => "meters",
        "ft"    => "feet"
    ),
    "facing_direction" => array (
        "0"     => array ("West","North-West","North","North-East","East","South-East"),
        "1"     => array("South","South-West")
    )
    .... 
)

Assume there are n number of sub arrays, not just the two shown above.

Iteration solution:

foreach($dropdown as $key => $val) {
    foreach($val as $k => $v) { 
        foreach($v as $id => $value) {
           //manipulate values here
        }
    }
}

My question is:

is there not a more elegant solution available in PHP?
for example something like foreach($dropdown->children()->children() ...)

_{I know there are a few semi-similar questions on SO but they're slightly different and the answers are mediocre.}

Answer 1

Yes, I personally tend to use array_walk_recursive with a closure(if you're using PHP above 5.3).

You can, obviously, also use recursion if you like getting your hands dirty.

I suppose an example is in order:

$array = [ 0 => [0 => [ 0 => 1 ...]]];

$manipulated_array = [];

array_walk_recursive($array, function($value) use (&$manipulated_array)
{
  // do whatever you wish here
});