php ini creating arrays with parse_ini_file

Question

Is it possible to create an array with a settings file?

In the index.php file there it reads .ini file:

// Parse config file
$settings = parse_ini_file("settings");

E.g. Settings file looks like this:

[States]
east = "Michigan, New York, Minnesota"

Looking to create an array like so:

array('Michigan', 'New York', 'Minnesota')

Answer 1

The right way to create an array in your ini file is with brackets:

[States]
east[] = Michigan
east[] = New York
east[] = Minnesota

You can see an example in the documentation for parse_ini_file():

Answer 2

It returns an associative array. Then, to parse the east states into an array, you could do: $eastStates = explode(', ', $ini['States']['east']); if your data is indeed in the format you described. Note that you can create true arrays in ini format, see the documentation.