How can I validate the structure of my PHP arrays?

Is there a function out there to make sure that any given array co开发者_运维百科nforms to a particular structure? What I mean is that is has particular key names, perhaps particular types for values, and whatever nested structure.

Right now I have a place where I want to make sure that the array getting past has certain keys, a couple holding a certain data type, and one sub-array with particular key names. I've done a lot of run-around because I was passing malformed arrays to it, and finally I'm at the point where I have a bunch of

if ( ! isset($arr['key1']) ) { .... }
if ( ! isset($arr['key2']) ) { .... }
if ( ! isset($arr['key3']) ) { .... }

I would have saved a lot of time and consternation if I could have checked that the array conformed to a particular structure beforehand. Ideally something like

$arrModel = array(
    'key1' => NULL ,
    'key2' => int ,
    'key3' => array(
        'key1' => NULL ,
        'key2' => NULL ,
      ),
);

if ( ! validate_array( $arrModel, $arrCandidate ) ) { ... }

So, the question I'm asking is, does this already exists, or do I write this myself?

Convert array to JSON:

http://us.php.net/manual/en/function.json-encode.php

Then check against a JSON Schema:

http://json-schema.org/

http://jsonschemaphpv.sourceforge.net/

It doesn't exist built in.

Maybe try something like (untested):

array_diff(array_merge_recursive($arrCandidate, $arrModel), $arrModel)

You can use the Symfony Validation component

Installation:

 composer require symfony/validator doctrine/annotations

Usage:

$myArray = [
  'name' => ['first_name' => 'foo', 'last_name' => 'bar'],
  'email' => 'foo@email.com' 
];

$constraints = new Assert\Collection([
    'name' => new Assert\Collection([
        'first_name' => new Assert\Length(['min' => 101]),
        'last_name' => new Assert\Length(['min' => 1]),
    ]),
    'email' => new Assert\Email(),
]);

$validator = Validation::createValidator();
$violations = $validator->validate($myArray, $constraints);

For more details, see How to Validate Raw Values (Scalar Values and Arrays)

accepted answer make diff based on values, since it's about array structure you dont want to diff values. Insted you should use [array_diff_key()][1]

Function alone is not recursive. It will not work out of box on sample array from question.

Edit after years: Got into similar trouble whit recursive array functions, so there is mine array_diff_recursive, this does not solve original question because it compare values as well, but i believe it can be easily modified and someone can find it useful .

function array_diff_recursive(array $array1, array $array2){
    return array_replace_recursive(
        array_diff_recursive_one_way($array1, $array2),
        array_diff_recursive_one_way($array2, $array1)
    );
}//end array_diff_recursive()

function array_diff_recursive_one_way(array $array1, array $array2)
{
    $ret = array();

    foreach ($array1 as $key => $value) {
        if (array_key_exists($key, $array2) === TRUE) {
            if (is_array($value) === TRUE) {
                $recurse = array_diff_recursive_one_way($value, $array2[$key]);
                if (count($recurse) > 0) {
                    $ret[$key] = $recurse;
                }
            } elseif (in_array($value, $array2) === FALSE) {
                $ret[$key] = $value;
            }
        } elseif (in_array($value, $array2) === FALSE) {
            $ret[$key] = $value;
        }
    }

    return $ret;
}//end array_diff_recursive_one_way()```

[1]: http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-diff-key.php

I know this is sort of an old post, sorry if my answer is not approppriate.

I'm in the process of writing a php package that does exactly what you are asking for, it's called Structure.

What you can do with the package is something like:

$arrayCheck = new \Structure\ArrayS();
$arrayCheck->setFormat(array("profile"=>"array"));
if ($arrayCheck->check($myArray)) {
    //...
}

You can check it out here: http://github.com/3nr1c/structure

I came across a tool called Matchmaker on GitHub, which looks very comprehensive and has composer support and unit tests:
https://github.com/ptrofimov/matchmaker

You can include it into your project with composer require ptrofimov/matchmaker.