[php] Convert a PHP object to an associative array

I'm integrating an API to my website which works with data stored in objects while my code is written using arrays.

I'd like a quick-and-dirty function to convert an object to an array.

I use this (needed recursive solution with proper keys):

    /**
     * This method returns the array corresponding to an object, including non public members.
     *
     * If the deep flag is true, is will operate recursively, otherwise (if false) just at the first level.
     *
     * @param object $obj
     * @param bool $deep = true
     * @return array
     * @throws \Exception
     */
    public static function objectToArray(object $obj, bool $deep = true)
    {
        $reflectionClass = new \ReflectionClass(get_class($obj));
        $array = [];
        foreach ($reflectionClass->getProperties() as $property) {
            $property->setAccessible(true);
            $val = $property->getValue($obj);
            if (true === $deep && is_object($val)) {
                $val = self::objectToArray($val);
            }
            $array[$property->getName()] = $val;
            $property->setAccessible(false);
        }
        return $array;
    }

Example of usage, the following code:

class AA{
    public $bb = null;
    protected $one = 11;

}

class BB{
    protected $two = 22;
}


$a = new AA();
$b = new BB();
$a->bb = $b;

var_dump($a)

Will print this:

array(2) {
  ["bb"] => array(1) {
    ["two"] => int(22)
  }
  ["one"] => int(11)
}

Here is some code:

function object_to_array($data) {
    if ((! is_array($data)) and (! is_object($data)))
        return 'xxx'; // $data;

    $result = array();

    $data = (array) $data;
    foreach ($data as $key => $value) {
        if (is_object($value))
            $value = (array) $value;
        if (is_array($value))
            $result[$key] = object_to_array($value);
        else
            $result[$key] = $value;
    }
    return $result;
}

Here is my recursive PHP function to convert PHP objects to an associative array:

// ---------------------------------------------------------
// ----- object_to_array_recursive --- function (PHP) ------
// ---------------------------------------------------------
// --- arg1: -- $object  =  PHP Object         - required --
// --- arg2: -- $assoc   =  TRUE or FALSE      - optional --
// --- arg3: -- $empty   =  '' (Empty String)  - optional --
// ---------------------------------------------------------
// ----- Return: Array from Object --- (associative) -------
// ---------------------------------------------------------

function object_to_array_recursive($object, $assoc=TRUE, $empty='')
{
    $res_arr = array();

    if (!empty($object)) {

        $arrObj = is_object($object) ? get_object_vars($object) : $object;

        $i=0;
        foreach ($arrObj as $key => $val) {
            $akey = ($assoc !== FALSE) ? $key : $i;
            if (is_array($val) || is_object($val)) {
                $res_arr[$akey] = (empty($val)) ? $empty : object_to_array_recursive($val);
            }
            else {
                $res_arr[$akey] = (empty($val)) ? $empty : (string)$val;
            }
            $i++;
        }
    }
    return $res_arr;
}

// ---------------------------------------------------------
// ---------------------------------------------------------

Usage example:

// ---- Return associative array from object, ... use:
$new_arr1 = object_to_array_recursive($my_object);
// -- or --
// $new_arr1 = object_to_array_recursive($my_object, TRUE);
// -- or --
// $new_arr1 = object_to_array_recursive($my_object, 1);


// ---- Return numeric array from object, ... use:
$new_arr2 = object_to_array_recursive($my_object, FALSE);

class Test{
    const A = 1;
    public $b = 'two';
    private $c = test::A;

    public function __toArray(){
        return call_user_func('get_object_vars', $this);
    }
}

$my_test = new Test();
var_dump((array)$my_test);
var_dump($my_test->__toArray());

Output

array(2) {
    ["b"]=>
    string(3) "two"
    ["Testc"]=>
    int(1)
}
array(1) {
    ["b"]=>
    string(3) "two"
}

You can quickly convert deeply nested objects to associative arrays by relying on the behavior of the JSON encode/decode functions:

$array = json_decode(json_encode($nested_object), true);

Converting and removing annoying stars:

$array = (array) $object;
foreach($array as $key => $val)
{
    $new_array[str_replace('*_', '', $key)] = $val;
}

Probably, it will be cheaper than using reflections.

You can also create a function in PHP to convert an object array:

function object_to_array($object) {
    return (array) $object;
}

From the first Google hit for "PHP object to assoc array" we have this:

function object_to_array($data)
{
    if (is_array($data) || is_object($data))
    {
        $result = array();
        foreach ($data as $key => $value)
        {
            $result[$key] = object_to_array($value);
        }
        return $result;
    }
    return $data;
}

The source is at codesnippets.joyent.com.

To convert an object into array just cast it explicitly:

$name_of_array = (array) $name_of_object;

First of all, if you need an array from an object you probably should constitute the data as an array first. Think about it.

Don't use a foreach statement or JSON transformations. If you're planning this, again you're working with a data structure, not with an object.

If you really need it use an object-oriented approach to have a clean and maintainable code. For example:

Object as array

class PersonArray implements \ArrayAccess, \IteratorAggregate
{
    public function __construct(Person $person) {
        $this->person = $person;
    }
    // ...
 }

If you need all properties, use a transfer object:

class PersonTransferObject
{
    private $person;

    public function __construct(Person $person) {
        $this->person = $person;
    }

    public function toArray() {
        return [
            // 'name' => $this->person->getName();
        ];
    }

 }

$Menu = new Admin_Model_DbTable_Menu(); 
$row = $Menu->fetchRow($Menu->select()->where('id = ?', $id));
$Addmenu = new Admin_Form_Addmenu(); 
$Addmenu->populate($row->toArray());

By using typecasting you can resolve your problem. Just add the following lines to your return object:

$arrObj = array(yourReturnedObject);

You can also add a new key and value pair to it by using:

$arrObj['key'] = value;

Custom function to convert stdClass to an array:

function objectToArray($d) {
    if (is_object($d)) {
        // Gets the properties of the given object
        // with get_object_vars function
        $d = get_object_vars($d);
    }

    if (is_array($d)) {
        /*
        * Return array converted to object
        * Using __FUNCTION__ (Magic constant)
        * for recursive call
        */
        return array_map(__FUNCTION__, $d);
    } else {
        // Return array
        return $d;
    }
}

Another custom function to convert Array to stdClass:

function arrayToObject($d) {
    if (is_array($d)) {
        /*
        * Return array converted to object
        * Using __FUNCTION__ (Magic constant)
        * for recursive call
        */
        return (object) array_map(__FUNCTION__, $d);
    } else {
        // Return object
        return $d;
    }
}

Usage Example:

// Create new stdClass Object
$init = new stdClass;

// Add some test data
$init->foo = "Test data";
$init->bar = new stdClass;
$init->bar->baaz = "Testing";
$init->bar->fooz = new stdClass;
$init->bar->fooz->baz = "Testing again";
$init->foox = "Just test";

// Convert array to object and then object back to array
$array = objectToArray($init);
$object = arrayToObject($array);

// Print objects and array
print_r($init);
echo "\n";
print_r($array);
echo "\n";
print_r($object);

Type cast your object to an array.

$arr =  (array) $Obj;

It will solve your problem.

Here I've made an objectToArray() method, which also works with recursive objects, like when $objectA contains $objectB which points again to $objectA.

Additionally I've restricted the output to public properties using ReflectionClass. Get rid of it, if you don't need it.

    /**
     * Converts given object to array, recursively.
     * Just outputs public properties.
     *
     * @param object|array $object
     * @return array|string
     */
    protected function objectToArray($object) {
        if (in_array($object, $this->usedObjects, TRUE)) {
            return '**recursive**';
        }
        if (is_array($object) || is_object($object)) {
            if (is_object($object)) {
                $this->usedObjects[] = $object;
            }
            $result = array();
            $reflectorClass = new \ReflectionClass(get_class($this));
            foreach ($object as $key => $value) {
                if ($reflectorClass->hasProperty($key) && $reflectorClass->getProperty($key)->isPublic()) {
                    $result[$key] = $this->objectToArray($value);
                }
            }
            return $result;
        }
        return $object;
    }

To identify already used objects, I am using a protected property in this (abstract) class, named $this->usedObjects. If a recursive nested object is found, it will be replaced by the string **recursive**. Otherwise it would fail in because of infinite loop.

You might want to do this when you obtain data as objects from databases:

// Suppose 'result' is the end product from some query $query

$result = $mysqli->query($query);
$result = db_result_to_array($result);

function db_result_to_array($result)
{
    $res_array = array();

    for ($count=0; $row = $result->fetch_assoc(); $count++)
        $res_array[$count] = $row;

    return $res_array;
}

Short solution of @SpYk3HH

function objectToArray($o)
{
    $a = array();
    foreach ($o as $k => $v)
        $a[$k] = (is_array($v) || is_object($v)) ? objectToArray($v): $v;

    return $a;
}

Since a lot of people find this question because of having trouble with dynamically access attributes of an object, I will just point out that you can do this in PHP: $valueRow->{"valueName"}

In context (removed HTML output for readability):

$valueRows = json_decode("{...}"); // Rows of unordered values decoded from a JSON object

foreach ($valueRows as $valueRow) {

    foreach ($references as $reference) {

        if (isset($valueRow->{$reference->valueName})) {
            $tableHtml .= $valueRow->{$reference->valueName};
        }
        else {
            $tableHtml .= " ";
        }
    }
}

All other answers posted here are only working with public attributes. Here is one solution that works with JavaBeans-like objects using reflection and getters:

function entity2array($entity, $recursionDepth = 2) {
    $result = array();
    $class = new ReflectionClass(get_class($entity));
    foreach ($class->getMethods(ReflectionMethod::IS_PUBLIC) as $method) {
        $methodName = $method->name;
        if (strpos($methodName, "get") === 0 && strlen($methodName) > 3) {
            $propertyName = lcfirst(substr($methodName, 3));
            $value = $method->invoke($entity);

            if (is_object($value)) {
                if ($recursionDepth > 0) {
                    $result[$propertyName] = $this->entity2array($value, $recursionDepth - 1);
                }
                else {
                    $result[$propertyName] = "***";  // Stop recursion
                }
            }
            else {
                $result[$propertyName] = $value;
            }
        }
    }
    return $result;
}

Use:

function readObject($object) {
    $name = get_class ($object);
    $name = str_replace('\\', "\\\\", $name); // Outcomment this line, if you don't use
                                              // class namespaces approach in your project
    $raw = (array)$object;

    $attributes = array();
    foreach ($raw as $attr => $val) {
        $attributes[preg_replace('('.$name.'|\*|)', '', $attr)] = $val;
    }
    return $attributes;
}

It returns an array without special characters and class names.

This answer is only the union of the different answers of this post, but it's the solution to convert a PHP object with public or private properties with simple values or arrays to an associative array...

function object_to_array($obj)
{
    if (is_object($obj))
        $obj = (array)$this->dismount($obj);
    if (is_array($obj)) {
        $new = array();
        foreach ($obj as $key => $val) {
            $new[$key] = $this->object_to_array($val);
        }
    }
    else
        $new = $obj;
    return $new;
}

function dismount($object)
{
    $reflectionClass = new \ReflectionClass(get_class($object));
    $array = array();
    foreach ($reflectionClass->getProperties() as $property) {
        $property->setAccessible(true);
        $array[$property->getName()] = $property->getValue($object);
        $property->setAccessible(false);
    }
    return $array;
}

I think it is a nice idea to use traits to store object-to-array converting logic. A simple example:

trait ArrayAwareTrait
{
    /**
     * Return list of Entity's parameters
     * @return array
     */
    public function toArray()
    {
        $props = array_flip($this->getPropertiesList());
        return array_map(
            function ($item) {
                if ($item instanceof \DateTime) {
                    return $item->format(DATE_ATOM);
                }
                return $item;
            },
            array_filter(get_object_vars($this), function ($key) use ($props) {
                return array_key_exists($key, $props);
            }, ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY)
        );
    }


    /**
     * @return array
     */
    protected function getPropertiesList()
    {
        if (method_exists($this, '__sleep')) {
            return $this->__sleep();
        }
        if (defined('static::PROPERTIES')) {
            return static::PROPERTIES;
        }
        return [];
    }
}

class OrderResponse
{
    use ArrayAwareTrait;

    const PROP_ORDER_ID = 'orderId';
    const PROP_TITLE = 'title';
    const PROP_QUANTITY = 'quantity';
    const PROP_BUYER_USERNAME = 'buyerUsername';
    const PROP_COST_VALUE = 'costValue';
    const PROP_ADDRESS = 'address';

    private $orderId;
    private $title;
    private $quantity;
    private $buyerUsername;
    private $costValue;
    private $address;

    /**
     * @param $orderId
     * @param $title
     * @param $quantity
     * @param $buyerUsername
     * @param $costValue
     * @param $address
     */
    public function __construct(
        $orderId,
        $title,
        $quantity,
        $buyerUsername,
        $costValue,
        $address
    ) {
        $this->orderId = $orderId;
        $this->title = $title;
        $this->quantity = $quantity;
        $this->buyerUsername = $buyerUsername;
        $this->costValue = $costValue;
        $this->address = $address;
    }

    /**
     * @inheritDoc
     */
    public function __sleep()
    {
        return [
            static::PROP_ORDER_ID,
            static::PROP_TITLE,
            static::PROP_QUANTITY,
            static::PROP_BUYER_USERNAME,
            static::PROP_COST_VALUE,
            static::PROP_ADDRESS,
        ];
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getOrderId()
    {
        return $this->orderId;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getTitle()
    {
        return $this->title;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getQuantity()
    {
        return $this->quantity;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getBuyerUsername()
    {
        return $this->buyerUsername;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getCostValue()
    {
        return $this->costValue;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getAddress()
    {
        return $this->address;
    }
}

$orderResponse = new OrderResponse(...);
var_dump($orderResponse->toArray());

What about get_object_vars($obj)? It seems useful if you only want to access the public properties of an object.

See get_object_vars.

You can easily use this function to get the result:

function objetToArray($adminBar){
    $reflector = new ReflectionObject($adminBar);
    $nodes = $reflector->getProperties();
    $out = [];
    foreach ($nodes as $node) {
        $nod = $reflector->getProperty($node->getName());
        $nod->setAccessible(true);
        $out[$node->getName()] = $nod->getValue($adminBar);
    }
    return $out;
}

Use PHP 5 or later.

For your case it was right/beautiful if you would use the "decorator" or "date model transformation" patterns. For example:

Your model

class Car {
    /** @var int */
    private $color;

    /** @var string */
    private $model;

    /** @var string */
    private $type;

    /**
     * @return int
     */
    public function getColor(): int
    {
        return $this->color;
    }

    /**
     * @param int $color
     * @return Car
     */
    public function setColor(int $color): Car
    {
        $this->color = $color;
        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getModel(): string
    {
        return $this->model;
    }

    /**
     * @param string $model
     * @return Car
     */
    public function setModel(string $model): Car
    {
        $this->model = $model;

        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getType(): string
    {
        return $this->type;
    }

    /**
     * @param string $type
     * @return Car
     */
    public function setType(string $type): Car
    {
        $this->type = $type;

        return $this;
    }
}

Decorator

class CarArrayDecorator
{
    /** @var Car */
    private $car;

    /**
     * CarArrayDecorator constructor.
     * @param Car $car
     */
    public function __construct(Car $car)
    {
        $this->car = $car;
    }

    /**
     * @return array
     */
    public function getArray(): array
    {
        return [
            'color' => $this->car->getColor(),
            'type' => $this->car->getType(),
            'model' => $this->car->getModel(),
        ];
    }
}

Usage

$car = new Car();
$car->setType('type#');
$car->setModel('model#1');
$car->setColor(255);

$carDecorator = new CarArrayDecorator($car);
$carResponseData = $carDecorator->getArray();

So it will be more beautiful and more correct code.

Some impovements to the "well-knwon" code

/*** mixed Obj2Array(mixed Obj)***************************************/ 
static public function Obj2Array($_Obj) {
    if (is_object($_Obj))
        $_Obj = get_object_vars($_Obj);
    return(is_array($_Obj) ? array_map(__METHOD__, $_Obj) : $_Obj);   
} // BW_Conv::Obj2Array

Notice that if the function is member of a class (like above) you must change __FUNCTION__ to __METHOD__

Also you can use The Symfony Serializer Component

use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\JsonEncoder;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\ObjectNormalizer;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Serializer;

$serializer = new Serializer([new ObjectNormalizer()], [new JsonEncoder()]);
$array = json_decode($serializer->serialize($object, 'json'), true);

For the purpose of Unit Testig, I would recommend using json_decode(json_encode($object), true) instead. Because if you try to use (array) $obj for a complex object such as the one below, unit testing will fail. Consider the following test case:

Hope this helps someone!

There's my proposal, if you have objects in objects with even private members:

public function dismount($object) {
    $reflectionClass = new \ReflectionClass(get_class($object));
    $array = array();
    foreach ($reflectionClass->getProperties() as $property) {
        $property->setAccessible(true);
        if (is_object($property->getValue($object))) {
            $array[$property->getName()] = $this->dismount($property->getValue($object));
        } else {
            $array[$property->getName()] = $property->getValue($object);
        }
        $property->setAccessible(false);
    }
    return $array;
}

Not a new solution but includes toArray method conversion when available

function objectToArray($r)
{
  if (is_object($r)) {
    if (method_exists($r, 'toArray')) {
      return $r->toArray(); // returns result directly
    } else {
      $r = get_object_vars($r);
    }
  }

  if (is_array($r)) {
    $r = array_map(__FUNCTION__, $r); // recursive function call
  }

  return $r;
}

If your object properties are public you can do:

$array =  (array) $object;

If they are private or protected, they will have weird key names on the array. So, in this case you will need the following function:

function dismount($object) {
    $reflectionClass = new ReflectionClass(get_class($object));
    $array = array();
    foreach ($reflectionClass->getProperties() as $property) {
        $property->setAccessible(true);
        $array[$property->getName()] = $property->getValue($object);
        $property->setAccessible(false);
    }
    return $array;
}