How to search by keys of a multidimensional array?

Question

PHP

There is an array of unlimited nesting level, for example:

$out_data = array(
    'home' => ['city' => 'Miami', 'state' => 'FL', 'location' => ['lat' => '40.00', 'long' => '50.00']],
    'work' => ['main' => ['role' => 'cheif', 'address' => 'Miami, FL'], 'hobby' => ['role' => 'painter', 'address' => null]],
    'age' => 68
);

1. You need to do a search on it so that when you query "age" the value 68 is returned, and when you query "home\location" an array with values ​​is returned [ lat => 40.00, long => 50.00 ].
2. How to add elements to such an array so that when you add an element 'work\new\' to the array, you can add an array of the form '['role' => 'new_work_role', 'address' => 'homeland' ] to it '?
Let me clarify that it is necessary to make a function in which, when passing one parameter of the form 'age' or 'home\location', a search was performed, and when two parameters were added: "home\location" and an array, the addition was carried out. In this case, the depth of the array is unknown, i.e. it may be necessary to add data to the array at "home\location\secret\new1" and even deeper.

Answer 1

echo $out_data['age'];

print_r($out_data['home']['location']);

$out_data['work']['new'] = ['role' => 'new_work_role', 'address' => 'homeland'];
print_r($out_data['work']['new']);

searching for a value across multiple keys

$out_data = array(
    'home' => ['city' => 'Miami', 'state' => 'FL', 'location' => ['lat' => '40.00', 'long' => '50.00']],
    'work' => ['main' => ['role' => 'cheif', 'address' => 'Miami, FL'], 'hobby' => ['role' => 'painter', 'address' => null]],
    'age' => 68
);

function get_data($data, $param) {
        $param = explode('\\', $param);

        $result = $data[$param[0]];

        for ($i = 1; $i < count($param); $i++) {
            $result = $result[$param[$i]];
        }

        return $result;
}

print_r(get_data($out_data, 'age'));
print_r(get_data($out_data, 'home\location'));
print_r(get_data($out_data, 'work\main\address'));

adding a new element

function set_data(&$arr, $data, $param) {
        $param = explode('\\', $param);
        $result = &$arr[$param[0]];

        for ($i = 1; $i < count($param); $i++) {
            $result = &$result[$param[$i]];
        }
        $result = $data;
    }

set_data($out_data, ['role' => 'boss', 'address' => 'Secret Base 1'], 'work\main\secret_job\project_1\state\city\street');

result of adding

print_r($out_data);
Array
(
    [home] => Array
        (
            [city] => Miami
            [state] => FL
            [location] => Array
                (
                    [lat] => 40.00
                    [long] => 50.00
                )

        )

    [work] => Array
        (
            [main] => Array
                (
                    [role] => cheif
                    [address] => Miami, FL
                    [secret_job] => Array
                        (
                            [project_1] => Array
                                (
                                    [state] => Array
                                        (
                                            [city] => Array
                                                (
                                                    [street] => Array
                                                        (
                                                            [role] => boss
                                                            [address] => Secret Base 1
                                                        )

                                                )

                                        )

                                )

                        )

                )

            [hobby] => Array
                (
                    [role] => painter
                    [address] => 
                )

        )

    [age] => 68
)

Answer 2

there is no way to check and debug. but I suggest the following logic:

function set_array_value(&$array, $key, $value){
        if(!is_array($key)){
            $key = explode('\\', $key);
        }

        $currentKey = array_shift($key);
        
        if(!is_array($array[$currentKey])){
            if(!isset($array[$currentKey])){
                $array[$currentKey] = [];
            } else {
                $array[$currentKey] = [ $array[$currentKey]];
            }
        }

        if(count($key) > 0){
            set_array_value($array[$currentKey], $key, $value);
        } else {
            if(is_array($array[$currentKey])){
                $array[$currentKey][] =  $value;
            } else {
                $array[$currentKey] = [$array[$currentKey], $value];
            }
        }
    }