php嵌套数组和对象结构路径，用于复制和粘贴

Question

When faced with complex nested php structures, what is a convenient way to print the path to a specific value -- for copy&paste -- as valid php code?

Example: A big mess of objects holding arrays, holding other objects, holding more arrays.

$object->third->values[3]['eng']->source->raw->title['html'] =

$object can easily be print_r() or var_dump() for an overview. But I still need to assemble the path deep down to desired value, to acess it in code. Which takes some time to get right during debugging.

Answer 1

You can do with Xpath, was originally created to work with XML, but allows interate object by a path string.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<PRODUCTS>
<PRODUCT category="software">
<SKU>soft32323</SKU>
<SUB_CATEGORY>Business Analysis</SUB_CATEGORY>
<NAME>Widget Reporting</NAME>
<PRICE>4500</PRICE>
</PRODUCT>
<PRODUCT category="software">
<SKU>soft32323</SKU>
<SUB_CATEGORY>Business Analysis</SUB_CATEGORY>
<NAME>Pro Reporting</NAME>
<PRICE>2300</PRICE>
</PRODUCT>
<PRODUCT category="storage">
<SKU>soft32323</SKU>
<SUB_CATEGORY>Tape Systems</SUB_CATEGORY>
<NAME>Tapes Abound</NAME>
<PRICE>2300</PRICE>
</PRODUCT>
<PRODUCT category="storage">
<SKU>soft32323</SKU>
<SUB_CATEGORY>Disk Systems</SUB_CATEGORY>
<NAME>Widget100 Series</NAME>
<PRICE>6500</PRICE>
</PRODUCT>
</PRODUCTS>

// PHP Code sample usin SimpleXML

$xml = simplexml_load_file("products.xml");
$products = $xml->xpath("/PRODUCTS/PRODUCT/NAME");
print_r($products);

---

OUTPUT:

Array ( [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => Widget Reporting ) 
[1] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => Pro Reporting ) [2] => 
SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => Tapes Abound ) [3] => 
SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => Widget100 Series ) )