converting string containing keys and values into array

Question

does anyone know an elagant way of turning this string (the list is not definite.. the "keys" and "values" can be added arbitrarily)

business_type,cafe|business_type_plural,cafes|sample_tag,couch|business_name,couch cafe

into this array?

array(
     [business_type]=>'cafe'
     [business_type_plural] => 'cafes'
     [sample_tag]=>'couch'
     [business_name]=>'couch cafe'
     )

Answer 1

Explode it!

$string = "business_type,cafe|business_type_plural,cafes|sample_tag,couch|business_name,couch cafe";

$finalArray = array();

$asArr = explode( '|', $string );

foreach( $asArr as $val ){
  $tmp = explode( ',', $val );
  $finalArray[ $tmp[0] ] = $tmp[1];
}

print_r( $finalArray );

This will output the following:

Array
(
    [business_type] => cafe
    [business_type_plural] => cafes
    [sample_tag] => couch
    [business_name] => couch cafe
)