How to dynamically set value in multidimensional array by reference

Question

This has been driving me nuts all evening. Basically, I need to set a specific value in a multidimensional array after sanitizing the value and then again (maybe, depends on validation; if validation failed then the value needs to be set to an empty string) after validating the value. Let's say I have this post array:

$data['should']['be']['int'] = ' yjd';

After sanitizing the value with filter_var( $value, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT ); I'm getting an empty string back. I would then need to somehow set the value on $data['should']['be']['int'] to be an empty string.

This value then gets passed to a validation function, which fails, cause the empty string is not an integer. Again, that validated value would then need to get set in $data['should']['be']['int'] to an empty string.

Before the whole validation thing kicks off I'm saving all relevant keys in an array, so by the time I need to sanitize or validate I've got something like this available:

$keys = array(
    0 => 'should',
    1 => 'be',
    2 => 'int'
);

I've tried to then access the $data array using the above keys in a foreach loop by referencing the &$data array to set the new value, but haven't been able to, no matter what I tried. The above is just a simplified example. The whole thing is part of a validation class, so I don't know the exact depth of the passed $data array.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for your help!

Edit: Thought I couldn't edit the post, but it ended up just being my internet connection. Please disregard my comment below. Anyways, here is a method that I tried calling recursively:

protected function set_value( &$data, $value ) {
    foreach( $data as &$val ) {
        if( is_array( $val ) ) {
            $this->set_value( $val, $value );
        } else {
            $val = $value;
        }
    }
}

To start the loop off I did this:

$this->set_value( $data[$keys[0]], $value );

Answer 1

You can try

$data = array();
$keys = array(
        0 => 'should',
        1 => 'be',
        2 => 'int'
);

$value = 'yjd';



echo "<pre>";
setValue($data,$keys,$value);
print_r($data);

Output

Array
(
    [should] => Array
        (
            [be] => Array
                (
                    [int] => yjd
                )

        )

)

Function Used

function setValue(&$data, $path, $value) {
    $temp = &$data;
    foreach ( $path as $key ) {
        $temp = &$temp[$key];
    }
    $temp = $value;
    return $value ;
}