How do you parse a key=variable response in PHP?

[zamrg]

I've been struggling to parse a response like key1=value1;key2=value2;key3=value3, something like getclientsdetails and a few other functions spit out.

 

It would normally be something as simple as a split but the fact that any one of these value's can contain a ; raises an issue.

[zamrg]

I managed to solve it.

 

I'm using the current function; which will safely convert key=value to an associative array whilst still keeping any ; within values intact.

 

private function _parse_vars($str)
{
	$results = array();

	$segments = explode(';', $str);

	$last_key = '';

	foreach ($segments as $segment)
	{
		if (preg_match('/^([a-z0-9_]+)=(.*)$/i', $segment, $matches))
		{
			$last_key = $matches[1];

			$results[$last_key] = $matches[2];
		}
		else
		{
			$results[$last_key] .=  ';' . $segment;
		}
	}

	return $results;
}