Recursive function to generate flat (but with titles nested) array from hierarchical array

Question

Another recursion question.

What I've tried to develop for the past few hours is a function that will let me generate a flat array of the same pages, but with the children having an identifier in front of them, (i.e. "— Sub Page, — — Sub Sub Page, etc").

I have a hierarchical array of pages, with each child page nested inside of their parent page. Here's an example of their output:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [id] => 1
            [parent_id] => 0
            [title] => Parent Page
            [children] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 12
                            [parent_id] => 1
                            [title] => Another Sub Page
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 3
                            [parent_id] => 1
                            [title] => Sub Page
                            [children] => Array
                                (
                                    [0] => Array
                                        (
                                            [id] => 7
                                            [parent_id] => 3
                                            [title] => Sub Sub Page
                                        )

                                )

                        )

                )

        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [id] => 8
            [parent_id] => 0
            [title] => Another Parent Page
        )

)

I've been able to get it working until I reach the second level of the recursion and then it's still generating only one —. I want to make the solution recursive.

What I'm looking for in the final output using the example above is:

Array
(
    [1] => Parent Page
    [12] => &mdash; Another Sub Page
    [3] => &mdash; Sub Page
    [7] => &mdash; &mdash; Sub Sub Page
    [8] => Another Parent Page
)

Hey Tim, I've ran through possibly hundreds of iterations trying to come up with the correct solutions. That is to say, I haven't been keeping all of my attempts to share. If you would like me to come up with that solution again, I can. — David Hemphill
– David Hemphill, Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 22:57
you should provide var_export() output for questions like this. — goat
– goat, Commented Dec 22, 2011 at 23:36

score 2 · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-22 23:14:00Z

2

function generate_array(array $arr, &$output = array(), $index = 0)
{
    foreach($arr as $item)
    {
        $output[$item['id']] = str_repeat('&mdash; ', $index) . $item['title'];
        if(isset($item['children']))
        {
            generate_array($item['children'], $output, $index + 1);
        }
    }
    return $output;
}

$output = generate_array($arr);

The data stored in $output would be:

Array
(
    [1] =>  Parent Page
    [12] => &mdash; Another Sub Page
    [3] => &mdash; Sub Page
    [7] => &mdash; &mdash; Sub Sub Page
    [8] =>  Another Parent Page
)

edited Dec 22, 2011 at 23:14

answered Dec 22, 2011 at 23:08

user142162

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1 Comment

grossvogel Over a year ago

+1 You got there first. I deleted my answer to avoid dilution, since it was remarkably similar.

goat · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-23 00:15:30Z

<?php
$output = array();
$iter = new RecursiveIteratorIterator(new RecursiveArrayIterator($array));
foreach ($iter as $key => $val) {
    if ($key === 'title') {
        $output[] = str_repeat('&mdash;', floor($iter->getDepth()/2)) . $val;
    }
}
print_r($output);

You could also do iterative

$stack = $output = array();
$stack[] = array(0, $array);
while ($stack) {
    list($depth, $nodes) = array_pop($stack);
    foreach ($nodes as $node) {
        if (isset($node['children'])) {
            $stack[] = array($depth + 1, $node['children']);
        }
        $output[] = str_repeat('&mdash;', $depth) . $node['title'];
    }
}
print_r($output);

It's worth mentioning that despite their name, the RecursiveIterator's don't actually use recursion internally. They manage a stack similar to my second example.

cnkt · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-22 23:12:30Z

1

I used a sample array like this:

$array = array(
    array(
        'title' => 'Test',
        'children' => array(
            array(
                'title' => 'test child',
                'children' => array(
                    array(
                        'title' => 'yo dawg, i heard you like recursion!'
                    )
                )
            )
        )
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'Test 2',
        'children' => array()
    )
);

and the function is this:

function flatIt($array, $depth = 0, &$flat = array())
{    
    foreach ($array as $item) {
        $flat[] = array('title' => str_repeat('&mdash;', $depth) . $item['title']);

        if (!empty ($item['children'])) {
            flatIt($item['children'], $depth + 1, $flat);
        }
    }

    return $flat;
}

When you call the function like this:

$result = flatIt($array);
var_dump($result);

You will get these results:

array
  0 => 
    array
      'title' => string 'Test' (length=4)
  1 => 
    array
      'title' => string '&mdash;test child' (length=17)
  2 => 
    array
      'title' => string '&mdash;&mdash;yo dawg, i heard you like recursion!' (length=50)
  3 => 
    array
      'title' => string 'Test 2' (length=6)

answered Dec 22, 2011 at 23:12

cnkt

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1 Comment

cnkt Over a year ago

By the way, i did it with recursion but i hope someone will come up with a "iterative" approach.

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