recursively cast a PHP object to array

php_object_to_array.php

<?php
/*
This function saved my life.
found on: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums//showthread.php?t=438748
by: crvandyke

It takes an object, and when all else if/else/recursive functions fail to convert the object into an associative array, this one goes for the kill. Who would'a thunk it?!
*/

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

Do you know how many times I've had to do this over the past few years and it was ugly. This is definitely a life saver!

Exactly what I was looking for. Give this man a beer.

Awesome!

Just tried over some nested objects/array and it didn't work.
But this does (not as elegant, but more effective):

`private 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;
}

//permet de changer les private en public, pour un meuilleur conversion des object en array
private 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;
}`

@TwanoO67 I had the same issue when converting an array to object using the code below. It only converted the outer most array to object and not the nested arrays.

$object = json_decode(json_encode($array), false);

I solved this by using:

$object = json_decode(json_encode($array, JSON_FORCE_OBJECT), false);

I'm pretty sure the solution would be similar when converting from object to array.

Awesome!

Mine too! 🥇

This will not be be applicable if the properties of the object you are trying to convert are declared as private

@mdeboer Thank you
That worked for me too

$object = json_decode(json_encode($array, JSON_FORCE_OBJECT), false);

Thanks!
Works fine on PHP 5.3.29

Nice!

@victorbstan thanks man.

@mdeboer Thank you
Saved ton of my time

I love the simplicity. Thank you!

am i the only one here that minds the "wasted" cycles of json encoding + decoding?

In case of complex objects, you will have serious performance issues with json_decode(json_encode())

Use this function to access also private and protected arguments

function obj2arr( $obj, $nestLevel = 0 ) {

// limit nesting level (for performance and not to go over the maximum)
if ( $nestLevel > 15 ) return;

// if current member is an object - turn it to an array
if( is_object( $obj ) ) $obj = (array) $obj;

// if current member is an array - recursively call this function to each of his children
if( is_array( $obj ) ) {

	$return = [];

	foreach( $obj as $key => $val ) {

		// correct private and protected key names
		$aux = explode ( "\0", $key );
		$newkey = $aux[ count( $aux ) - 1 ];
		$return[ $newkey ] = obj2arr( $val, $nestLevel + 1 );

	}

} else $return = $obj;

// return transformed object
return $return;

}

Use ArrayObject class and cast it to array (or use ArrayObject::getArrayCopy() instead). It's much much faster.

php > $x = [1, (object) ['x'=>'y'], 3];
php > var_dump($x);
array(3) {
  [0] =>
  int(1)
  [1] =>
  class stdClass#1 (1) {
    public $x =>
    string(1) "y"
  }
  [2] =>
  int(3)
}
php > var_dump((new ArrayObject($x))->getArrayCopy());
array(3) {
  [0] =>
  int(1)
  [1] =>
  class stdClass#1 (1) {
    public $x =>
    string(1) "y"
  }
  [2] =>
  int(3)
}

Use ArrayObject class and cast it to array (or use ArrayObject::getArrayCopy() instead). It's much much faster.

ArrayObject::getArrayCopy() return shallow copy of array.

@scmrus and @c01nd01r
I actually understood this after trying it, but I forgot to remove the comment from here. Sorry.
BTW, a recursive function in PHP is faster than the JSON way.