Convert stdclass object to array PHP

In this post, you will learn how to convert stdclass object to array using the PHP programming language.

The stdClass is the empty class in PHP which is used to cast other types to an object. The stdClass is not the base class of the objects. If an object is converted to an object, it is not modified. But, if an object type is converted/type-casted an instance of stdClass is created if it is not NULL. If it is NULL, the new instance will be empty. An array is a collection of key/value pairs. In programming, sometimes we need to convert stdclass objects to arrays. It is easy to convert a stdclass object to an array if both the arrays and objects are one-dimensional, but it might be a little tricky if using multidimensional arrays and objects.

Convert stdClass objects to array

PHP provides stdClass as a generic empty class which is useful for adding properties dynamically and casting. It is useful in dynamic objects. Suppose we have the following stdClass objects.

#define stdObjects to store employee details

$obj = new stdClass;
$obj->name = "Priska";
$obj->position = "Data Administrator"
$obj->age = 26;
$obj->experience = 3;

The following PHP code converts the above defined objects into an array.

function convert_object_to_array($data) {

    if (is_object($data)) {
        $data = get_object_vars($data);
    }

    if (is_array($data)) {
        return array_map(__FUNCTION__, $data);
    }
    else {
        return $data;
    }
}

#define stdObjects to store employee details
$obj = new stdClass;
$obj->name = "Priska";
$obj->position = "Data Administrator";
$obj->age = 26;
$obj->experience = 3;

print_r($obj);

$emp = convert_object_to_array($obj);
print_r($emp);

stdClass Object
(
    [name] => Priska
    [position] => Data Administrator
    [age] => 26
    [experience] => 3
)
Array
(
    [name] => Priska
    [position] => Data Administrator
    [age] => 26
    [experience] => 3
)

Function to Convert stdClass Objects to Multidimensional Arrays

In the given example, we have converted the stdClass objects to multidimensional arrays.

function convert_object_to_array($data) {
	if(is_object($data)) {
		// Get the properties of the given object
		$data = get_object_vars($data);
	}
	if(is_array($data)) {
		//Return array converted to object
		return array_map(__FUNCTION__, $data);
	}
	else {
		// Return array
		return $data;
	}
}

#define stdObjects to store employee details
$obj = new stdClass;
$obj->name = "Priska";
$obj->position = "Data Administrator";
$obj->age = 26;
$obj->experience = 3;
$obj->address->houseno = "K-92 A, Bank Street";
$obj->address->location = "Southcamp";
$obj->address->city = "Banglore";

print_r($obj);

$emp = convert_object_to_array($obj);
print_r($emp);

stdClass Object
(
    [name] => Priska
    [position] => Data Administrator
    [age] => 26
    [experience] => 3
    [address] => stdClass Object
        (
            [houseno] => K-92 A, Bank Street
            [location] => Southcamp
            [city] => Banglore
        )

)

Array
(
    [name] => Priska
    [position] => Data Administrator
    [age] => 26
    [experience] => 3
    [address] => Array
        (
            [houseno] => K-92 A, Bank Street
            [location] => Southcamp
            [city] => Banglore
        )

)

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