Convert a PHP object to an associative array

PhpArrays

Php Problem Overview


I'm integrating an API to my website which works with data stored in objects while my code is written using arrays.

I'd like a quick-and-dirty function to convert an object to an array.

Php Solutions


Solution 1 - Php

Just typecast it

$array = (array) $yourObject;

From Arrays:

> If an object is converted to an array, the result is an array whose elements are the object's properties. The keys are the member variable names, with a few notable exceptions: integer properties are unaccessible; private variables have the class name prepended to the variable name; protected variables have a '*' prepended to the variable name. These prepended values have null bytes on either side.

Example: Simple Object

$object = new StdClass;
$object->foo = 1;
$object->bar = 2;

var_dump( (array) $object );

Output:

array(2) {
  'foo' => int(1)
  'bar' => int(2)
}

Example: Complex Object

class Foo
{
    private $foo;
    protected $bar;
    public $baz;

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->foo = 1;
        $this->bar = 2;
        $this->baz = new StdClass;
    }
}

var_dump( (array) new Foo );

Output (with \0s edited in for clarity):

array(3) {
  '\0Foo\0foo' => int(1)
  '\0*\0bar' => int(2)
  'baz' => class stdClass#2 (0) {}
}

Output with var_export instead of var_dump:

array (
  '' . "\0" . 'Foo' . "\0" . 'foo' => 1,
  '' . "\0" . '*' . "\0" . 'bar' => 2,
  'baz' =>
  stdClass::__set_state(array(
  )),
)

Typecasting this way will not do deep casting of the object graph and you need to apply the null bytes (as explained in the manual quote) to access any non-public attributes. So this works best when casting StdClass objects or objects with only public properties. For quick and dirty (what you asked for) it's fine.

Also see this in-depth blog post:

Solution 2 - Php

You can quickly convert deeply nested objects to associative arrays by relying on the behavior of the JSON encode/decode functions:

$array = json_decode(json_encode($nested_object), true);

Solution 3 - Php

From the first Google hit for "PHP object to assoc array" we have this:

function object_to_array($data)
{
    if (is_array($data) || is_object($data))
    {
        $result = [];
        foreach ($data as $key => $value)
        {
            $result[$key] = (is_array($value) || is_object($value)) ? object_to_array($value) : $value;
        }
        return $result;
    }
    return $data;
}

The source is at codesnippets.joyent.com.


To compare it to the solution of json_decode & json_encode, this one seems faster. Here is a random benchmark (using the simple time measuring):

$obj = (object) [
    'name'    =>'Mike',
    'surname' =>'Jovanson',
    'age'     =>'45',
    'time'    =>1234567890,
    'country' =>'Germany',
];

##### 100 000 cycles ######
* json_decode(json_encode($var))   : 4.15 sec
* object_to_array($var)            : 0.93 sec

Solution 4 - Php

If your object properties are public you can do:

$array =  (array) $object;

If they are private or protected, they will have weird key names on the array. So, in this case you will need the following function:

function dismount($object) {
    $reflectionClass = new ReflectionClass(get_class($object));
    $array = array();
    foreach ($reflectionClass->getProperties() as $property) {
        $property->setAccessible(true);
        $array[$property->getName()] = $property->getValue($object);
        $property->setAccessible(false);
    }
    return $array;
}

Solution 5 - Php

What about get_object_vars($obj)? It seems useful if you only want to access the public properties of an object.

See get_object_vars.

Solution 6 - Php

class Test{
	const A = 1;
	public $b = 'two';
	private $c = test::A;

	public function __toArray(){
		return call_user_func('get_object_vars', $this);
	}
}

$my_test = new Test();
var_dump((array)$my_test);
var_dump($my_test->__toArray());

Output

array(2) {
	["b"]=>
	string(3) "two"
	["Testc"]=>
	int(1)
}
array(1) {
	["b"]=>
	string(3) "two"
}

Solution 7 - Php

Type cast your object to an array.

$arr =  (array) $Obj;

It will solve your problem.

Solution 8 - Php

Here is some code:

function object_to_array($data) {
    if ((! is_array($data)) and (! is_object($data)))
        return 'xxx'; // $data;

    $result = array();

    $data = (array) $data;
    foreach ($data as $key => $value) {
        if (is_object($value))
            $value = (array) $value;
        if (is_array($value))
            $result[$key] = object_to_array($value);
        else
            $result[$key] = $value;
    }
    return $result;
}

Solution 9 - Php

All other answers posted here are only working with public attributes. Here is one solution that works with JavaBeans-like objects using reflection and getters:

function entity2array($entity, $recursionDepth = 2) {
    $result = array();
    $class = new ReflectionClass(get_class($entity));
    foreach ($class->getMethods(ReflectionMethod::IS_PUBLIC) as $method) {
        $methodName = $method->name;
        if (strpos($methodName, "get") === 0 && strlen($methodName) > 3) {
            $propertyName = lcfirst(substr($methodName, 3));
            $value = $method->invoke($entity);

            if (is_object($value)) {
                if ($recursionDepth > 0) {
                    $result[$propertyName] = $this->entity2array($value, $recursionDepth - 1);
                }
                else {
                    $result[$propertyName] = "***";  // Stop recursion
                }
            }
            else {
                $result[$propertyName] = $value;
            }
        }
    }
    return $result;
}

Solution 10 - Php

To convert an object into array just cast it explicitly:

$name_of_array = (array) $name_of_object;

Solution 11 - Php

You can also create a function in PHP to convert an object array:

function object_to_array($object) {
    return (array) $object;
}

Solution 12 - Php

Use:

function readObject($object) {
    $name = get_class ($object);
    $name = str_replace('\\', "\\\\", $name); // Outcomment this line, if you don't use
                                              // class namespaces approach in your project
    $raw = (array)$object;

    $attributes = array();
    foreach ($raw as $attr => $val) {
        $attributes[preg_replace('('.$name.'|\*|)', '', $attr)] = $val;
    }
    return $attributes;
}

It returns an array without special characters and class names.

Solution 13 - Php

First of all, if you need an array from an object you probably should constitute the data as an array first. Think about it.

Don't use a foreach statement or JSON transformations. If you're planning this, again you're working with a data structure, not with an object.

If you really need it use an object-oriented approach to have a clean and maintainable code. For example:

Object as array

class PersonArray implements \ArrayAccess, \IteratorAggregate
{
    public function __construct(Person $person) {
        $this->person = $person;
    }
    // ...
 }

If you need all properties, use a transfer object:

class PersonTransferObject
{
    private $person;

    public function __construct(Person $person) {
        $this->person = $person;
    }

    public function toArray() {
        return [
            // 'name' => $this->person->getName();
        ];
    }

 }

Solution 14 - Php

You can easily use this function to get the result:

function objetToArray($adminBar){
    $reflector = new ReflectionObject($adminBar);
    $nodes = $reflector->getProperties();
    $out = [];
    foreach ($nodes as $node) {
        $nod = $reflector->getProperty($node->getName());
        $nod->setAccessible(true);
        $out[$node->getName()] = $nod->getValue($adminBar);
    }
    return $out;
}

Use PHP 5 or later.

Solution 15 - Php

Here is my recursive PHP function to convert PHP objects to an associative array:

// ---------------------------------------------------------
// ----- object_to_array_recursive --- function (PHP) ------
// ---------------------------------------------------------
// --- arg1: -- $object  =  PHP Object         - required --
// --- arg2: -- $assoc   =  TRUE or FALSE      - optional --
// --- arg3: -- $empty   =  '' (Empty String)  - optional --
// ---------------------------------------------------------
// ----- Return: Array from Object --- (associative) -------
// ---------------------------------------------------------

function object_to_array_recursive($object, $assoc=TRUE, $empty='')
{
    $res_arr = array();

    if (!empty($object)) {

        $arrObj = is_object($object) ? get_object_vars($object) : $object;

        $i=0;
        foreach ($arrObj as $key => $val) {
            $akey = ($assoc !== FALSE) ? $key : $i;
            if (is_array($val) || is_object($val)) {
                $res_arr[$akey] = (empty($val)) ? $empty : object_to_array_recursive($val);
            }
            else {
                $res_arr[$akey] = (empty($val)) ? $empty : (string)$val;
            }
            $i++;
        }
    }
    return $res_arr;
}

// ---------------------------------------------------------
// ---------------------------------------------------------

Usage example:

// ---- Return associative array from object, ... use:
$new_arr1 = object_to_array_recursive($my_object);
// -- or --
// $new_arr1 = object_to_array_recursive($my_object, TRUE);
// -- or --
// $new_arr1 = object_to_array_recursive($my_object, 1);


// ---- Return numeric array from object, ... use:
$new_arr2 = object_to_array_recursive($my_object, FALSE);

Solution 16 - Php

Custom function to convert stdClass to an array:

function objectToArray($d) {
    if (is_object($d)) {
        // Gets the properties of the given object
        // with get_object_vars function
        $d = get_object_vars($d);
    }

    if (is_array($d)) {
        /*
        * Return array converted to object
        * Using __FUNCTION__ (Magic constant)
        * for recursive call
        */
        return array_map(__FUNCTION__, $d);
    } else {
        // Return array
        return $d;
    }
}

Another custom function to convert Array to stdClass:

function arrayToObject($d) {
    if (is_array($d)) {
        /*
        * Return array converted to object
        * Using __FUNCTION__ (Magic constant)
        * for recursive call
        */
        return (object) array_map(__FUNCTION__, $d);
    } else {
        // Return object
        return $d;
    }
}

Usage Example:

// Create new stdClass Object
$init = new stdClass;

// Add some test data
$init->foo = "Test data";
$init->bar = new stdClass;
$init->bar->baaz = "Testing";
$init->bar->fooz = new stdClass;
$init->bar->fooz->baz = "Testing again";
$init->foox = "Just test";

// Convert array to object and then object back to array
$array = objectToArray($init);
$object = arrayToObject($array);

// Print objects and array
print_r($init);
echo "\n";
print_r($array);
echo "\n";
print_r($object);

Solution 17 - Php

You might want to do this when you obtain data as objects from databases:

// Suppose 'result' is the end product from some query $query

$result = $mysqli->query($query);
$result = db_result_to_array($result);

function db_result_to_array($result)
{
    $res_array = array();

    for ($count=0; $row = $result->fetch_assoc(); $count++)
        $res_array[$count] = $row;

    return $res_array;
}

Solution 18 - Php

This answer is only the union of the different answers of this post, but it's the solution to convert a PHP object with public or private properties with simple values or arrays to an associative array...

function object_to_array($obj)
{
    if (is_object($obj))
        $obj = (array)$this->dismount($obj);
    if (is_array($obj)) {
        $new = array();
        foreach ($obj as $key => $val) {
            $new[$key] = $this->object_to_array($val);
        }
    }
    else
        $new = $obj;
    return $new;
}

function dismount($object)
{
    $reflectionClass = new \ReflectionClass(get_class($object));
    $array = array();
    foreach ($reflectionClass->getProperties() as $property) {
        $property->setAccessible(true);
        $array[$property->getName()] = $property->getValue($object);
        $property->setAccessible(false);
    }
    return $array;
}

Solution 19 - Php

Short solution of @SpYk3HH

function objectToArray($o)
{
    $a = array();
    foreach ($o as $k => $v)
        $a[$k] = (is_array($v) || is_object($v)) ? objectToArray($v): $v;

    return $a;
}

Solution 20 - Php

Converting and removing annoying stars:

$array = (array) $object;
foreach($array as $key => $val)
{
    $new_array[str_replace('*_', '', $key)] = $val;
}

Probably, it will be cheaper than using reflections.

Solution 21 - Php

Some impovements to the "well-knwon" code

/*** mixed Obj2Array(mixed Obj)***************************************/ 
static public function Obj2Array($_Obj) {
    if (is_object($_Obj))
        $_Obj = get_object_vars($_Obj);
    return(is_array($_Obj) ? array_map(__METHOD__, $_Obj) : $_Obj);   
} // BW_Conv::Obj2Array

Notice that if the function is member of a class (like above) you must change __FUNCTION__ to __METHOD__

Solution 22 - Php

Also you can use The Symfony Serializer Component

use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\JsonEncoder;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\ObjectNormalizer;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Serializer;

$serializer = new Serializer([new ObjectNormalizer()], [new JsonEncoder()]);
$array = json_decode($serializer->serialize($object, 'json'), true);

Solution 23 - Php

For your case it was right/beautiful if you would use the "decorator" or "date model transformation" patterns. For example:

Your model

class Car {
    /** @var int */
    private $color;

    /** @var string */
    private $model;

    /** @var string */
    private $type;

    /**
     * @return int
     */
    public function getColor(): int
    {
        return $this->color;
    }

    /**
     * @param int $color
     * @return Car
     */
    public function setColor(int $color): Car
    {
        $this->color = $color;
        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getModel(): string
    {
        return $this->model;
    }

    /**
     * @param string $model
     * @return Car
     */
    public function setModel(string $model): Car
    {
        $this->model = $model;

        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getType(): string
    {
        return $this->type;
    }

    /**
     * @param string $type
     * @return Car
     */
    public function setType(string $type): Car
    {
        $this->type = $type;

        return $this;
    }
}

Decorator

class CarArrayDecorator
{
    /** @var Car */
    private $car;

    /**
     * CarArrayDecorator constructor.
     * @param Car $car
     */
    public function __construct(Car $car)
    {
        $this->car = $car;
    }

    /**
     * @return array
     */
    public function getArray(): array
    {
        return [
            'color' => $this->car->getColor(),
            'type' => $this->car->getType(),
            'model' => $this->car->getModel(),
        ];
    }
}

Usage

$car = new Car();
$car->setType('type#');
$car->setModel('model#1');
$car->setColor(255);

$carDecorator = new CarArrayDecorator($car);
$carResponseData = $carDecorator->getArray();

So it will be more beautiful and more correct code.

Solution 24 - Php

Since a lot of people find this question because of having trouble with dynamically access attributes of an object, I will just point out that you can do this in PHP: $valueRow->{"valueName"}

In context (removed HTML output for readability):

$valueRows = json_decode("{...}"); // Rows of unordered values decoded from a JSON object

foreach ($valueRows as $valueRow) {

    foreach ($references as $reference) {

        if (isset($valueRow->{$reference->valueName})) {
            $tableHtml .= $valueRow->{$reference->valueName};
        }
        else {
            $tableHtml .= " ";
        }
    }
}

Solution 25 - Php

By using typecasting you can resolve your problem. Just add the following lines to your return object:

$arrObj = array(yourReturnedObject);

You can also add a new key and value pair to it by using:

$arrObj['key'] = value;

Solution 26 - Php

There's my proposal, if you have objects in objects with even private members:

public function dismount($object) {
    $reflectionClass = new \ReflectionClass(get_class($object));
    $array = array();
    foreach ($reflectionClass->getProperties() as $property) {
        $property->setAccessible(true);
        if (is_object($property->getValue($object))) {
            $array[$property->getName()] = $this->dismount($property->getValue($object));
        } else {
            $array[$property->getName()] = $property->getValue($object);
        }
        $property->setAccessible(false);
    }
    return $array;
}

Solution 27 - Php

I think it is a nice idea to use traits to store object-to-array converting logic. A simple example:

trait ArrayAwareTrait
{
    /**
     * Return list of Entity's parameters
     * @return array
     */
    public function toArray()
    {
        $props = array_flip($this->getPropertiesList());
        return array_map(
            function ($item) {
                if ($item instanceof \DateTime) {
                    return $item->format(DATE_ATOM);
                }
                return $item;
            },
            array_filter(get_object_vars($this), function ($key) use ($props) {
                return array_key_exists($key, $props);
            }, ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY)
        );
    }


    /**
     * @return array
     */
    protected function getPropertiesList()
    {
        if (method_exists($this, '__sleep')) {
            return $this->__sleep();
        }
        if (defined('static::PROPERTIES')) {
            return static::PROPERTIES;
        }
        return [];
    }
}

class OrderResponse
{
    use ArrayAwareTrait;

    const PROP_ORDER_ID = 'orderId';
    const PROP_TITLE = 'title';
    const PROP_QUANTITY = 'quantity';
    const PROP_BUYER_USERNAME = 'buyerUsername';
    const PROP_COST_VALUE = 'costValue';
    const PROP_ADDRESS = 'address';

    private $orderId;
    private $title;
    private $quantity;
    private $buyerUsername;
    private $costValue;
    private $address;

    /**
     * @param $orderId
     * @param $title
     * @param $quantity
     * @param $buyerUsername
     * @param $costValue
     * @param $address
     */
    public function __construct(
        $orderId,
        $title,
        $quantity,
        $buyerUsername,
        $costValue,
        $address
    ) {
        $this->orderId = $orderId;
        $this->title = $title;
        $this->quantity = $quantity;
        $this->buyerUsername = $buyerUsername;
        $this->costValue = $costValue;
        $this->address = $address;
    }

    /**
     * @inheritDoc
     */
    public function __sleep()
    {
        return [
            static::PROP_ORDER_ID,
            static::PROP_TITLE,
            static::PROP_QUANTITY,
            static::PROP_BUYER_USERNAME,
            static::PROP_COST_VALUE,
            static::PROP_ADDRESS,
        ];
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getOrderId()
    {
        return $this->orderId;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getTitle()
    {
        return $this->title;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getQuantity()
    {
        return $this->quantity;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getBuyerUsername()
    {
        return $this->buyerUsername;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getCostValue()
    {
        return $this->costValue;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getAddress()
    {
        return $this->address;
    }
}

$orderResponse = new OrderResponse(...);
var_dump($orderResponse->toArray());

Solution 28 - Php

I use this (needed recursive solution with proper keys):

    /**
     * This method returns the array corresponding to an object, including non public members.
     *
     * If the deep flag is true, is will operate recursively, otherwise (if false) just at the first level.
     *
     * @param object $obj
     * @param bool $deep = true
     * @return array
     * @throws \Exception
     */
    public static function objectToArray(object $obj, bool $deep = true)
    {
        $reflectionClass = new \ReflectionClass(get_class($obj));
        $array = [];
        foreach ($reflectionClass->getProperties() as $property) {
            $property->setAccessible(true);
            $val = $property->getValue($obj);
            if (true === $deep && is_object($val)) {
                $val = self::objectToArray($val);
            }
            $array[$property->getName()] = $val;
            $property->setAccessible(false);
        }
        return $array;
    }

Example of usage, the following code:

class AA{
    public $bb = null;
    protected $one = 11;

}

class BB{
    protected $two = 22;
}


$a = new AA();
$b = new BB();
$a->bb = $b;

var_dump($a)

Will print this:

array(2) {
  ["bb"] => array(1) {
    ["two"] => int(22)
  }
  ["one"] => int(11)
}

Solution 29 - Php

$Menu = new Admin_Model_DbTable_Menu(); 
$row = $Menu->fetchRow($Menu->select()->where('id = ?', $id));
$Addmenu = new Admin_Form_Addmenu(); 
$Addmenu->populate($row->toArray());

Solution 30 - Php

Here I've made an objectToArray() method, which also works with recursive objects, like when $objectA contains $objectB which points again to $objectA.

Additionally I've restricted the output to public properties using ReflectionClass. Get rid of it, if you don't need it.

    /**
	 * Converts given object to array, recursively.
	 * Just outputs public properties.
	 *
	 * @param object|array $object
	 * @return array|string
	 */
	protected function objectToArray($object) {
		if (in_array($object, $this->usedObjects, TRUE)) {
			return '**recursive**';
		}
		if (is_array($object) || is_object($object)) {
			if (is_object($object)) {
				$this->usedObjects[] = $object;
			}
			$result = array();
			$reflectorClass = new \ReflectionClass(get_class($this));
			foreach ($object as $key => $value) {
				if ($reflectorClass->hasProperty($key) && $reflectorClass->getProperty($key)->isPublic()) {
					$result[$key] = $this->objectToArray($value);
				}
			}
			return $result;
		}
		return $object;
	}

To identify already used objects, I am using a protected property in this (abstract) class, named $this->usedObjects. If a recursive nested object is found, it will be replaced by the string **recursive**. Otherwise it would fail in because of infinite loop.

Solution 31 - Php

Not a new solution but includes toArray method conversion when available

function objectToArray($r)
{
  if (is_object($r)) {
    if (method_exists($r, 'toArray')) {
      return $r->toArray(); // returns result directly
    } else {
      $r = get_object_vars($r);
    }
  }

  if (is_array($r)) {
    $r = array_map(__FUNCTION__, $r); // recursive function call
  }

  return $r;
}

Solution 32 - Php

For the purpose of Unit Testing, I would recommend using json_decode(json_encode($object), true) instead. Because if you try to use (array) $obj for a complex object such as the one below, unit testing will fail. Consider the following test case:

enter image description here

Solution 33 - Php

I tested it in Laravel Collections, this is working well.

function objectToArray($data)
{
    if (is_array($data) || is_object($data))
    {
        $result = [];
        foreach ($data as $key => $value)
        {
            $result[$key] = (is_array($data) || is_object($data)) ? objectToArray($value) : $value;
        }
        return $result;
    }
    return $data;
}

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Solution 21 - PhpGilbert BENABOUView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 22 - PhpAndrey NilovView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 23 - PhpDaniel AbyanView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 24 - PhpradiatedDogsInFukushimaView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 25 - PhpNaveen GuptaView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 26 - PhpKarol GasienicaView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 27 - PhpVitaly PugachView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 28 - PhplingView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 29 - PhpSaurabh Chandra PatelView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 30 - PhpArminView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 31 - PhpHeroselohimView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 32 - PhpAwedaView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 33 - PhpAmir HosseinzadehView Answer on Stackoverflow