How to Quickly Convert a PHP Object into an Associative Array?

How to Quickly Convert a PHP Object to an Associative Array

When integrating APIs that operate with object-based data, the need often arises to convert these objects to arrays to align with existing code using arrays. Here's a concise and straightforward solution to perform this conversion:

Typecast the Object:

To convert an object to an associative array, you can simply typecast it like so:

$array = (array) $yourObject;

This typecasting method is a direct and efficient approach. However, it's important to note that it only performs a shallow conversion.

Property Accessibility in Cast Arrays:

When typecasting an object to an array, various rules apply regarding property accessibility:

• Public properties are directly accessible in the array.
• Private properties have 'foo' prepended to the variable name.
• Protected properties have '*foo' prepended to the variable name.

Integer Property Conversion:

Integer properties are inaccessible and will not appear in the converted array.

Example: Converting a 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: Converting a Complex Object with Private and Protected Properties:

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:

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

As you can observe, private and protected properties are present in the converted array with the specified prepended prefixes.

Deep Casting and Non-Public Properties:

Note that this typecasting method does not perform deep casting. To access non-public attributes, you may need to explicitly apply the null bytes, as explained in the official PHP documentation.

For more in-depth information, refer to the linked resources:

• PHP Built-in Class stdClass: https://www.php.net/manual/en/class.stdclass.php
• Fast PHP Object to Array Conversion Blog Post: https://dereuromark.de/2011/02/03/fast-php-object-to-array-conversion/

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