Expand dotted 2D array to multidimensional array using JSON

ExpandDottedArrayUsingJSON.php

<?php

function getDottedExpandedArray($array){
  $finalArray = array();
	foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
		$sub_count = substr_count($key, '.')+1;
		
		$json = '{"' . str_replace('.', '" : {"', $key);
		$json .= '" : "'.$value.'"'.str_repeat('}', $sub_count);
		$array = json_decode($json, true);

	 	$finalArray = array_merge_recursive($finalArray, $array); //Merging array
	 }
	 return $finalArray;
}

//Testing
$dotedArray = array(
	'fish.in.pond' => 'its there',
	'fish.on.tree' => 'Not possible',
	'balloon.in.sky' => 'very high',
);

/*
Output: print_r($expandedArray);

Array(
    [fish] => Array(
        [in] => Array(
            [pond] => its there
		)
        [on] => Array(
			[tree] => Not possible
		)
    )
    [balloon] => Array(
        [in] => Array(
            [sky] => very high
        )
    )
)
*/
?>