array to object conversion (and vice-versa) in PHP (>=5.2)

array-to-object

<?php

// Our required array
$a = array(
  'name' => 'praveen',
  'friends' => array(
    'name' => 'uday',
    'company' => 'kuliza',
    'friends' => array(
      'name' => 'vaibhav',
      'company' => 'kuliza',
      'friends' => null // @vaibhav might kill me now :p
    )
  ),
  'company' => 'kuliza'
);

$b = json_decode(json_encode($a)); // to convert an array into an object

$c = json_decode(json_encode($b), true); // to convert an object into an array

print_r($a); // $a is an array

/* OUTPUT:
Array
(
    [name] => praveen
    [friends] => Array
        (
            [name] => uday
            [company] => kuliza
            [friends] => Array
                (
                    [name] => vaibhav
                    [company] => kuliza
                    [friends] => 
                )

        )

    [company] => kuliza
)
*/

print_r($b); // $b is an object

/* OUTPUT
stdClass Object
(
    [name] => praveen
    [friends] => stdClass Object
        (
            [name] => uday
            [company] => kuliza
            [friends] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [name] => vaibhav
                    [company] => kuliza
                    [friends] => 
                )

        )

    [company] => kuliza
)
*/

print_r($c); // $c is an array again

/* OUTPUT
Array
(
    [name] => praveen
    [friends] => Array
        (
            [name] => uday
            [company] => kuliza
            [friends] => Array
                (
                    [name] => vaibhav
                    [company] => kuliza
                    [friends] => 
                )

        )

    [company] => kuliza
)
*/

added sample outputs in code comments