Explode a string to associative array without using loops? [duplicate]

Answer 1

Personally i use:

/**
 * @desc String to associative array
 * 
 * @param string $string
 * @param string $element_delimiter
 * @param string $value_delimiter
 * 
 * @example
  $string = "1:9|class:fa fa-globe";
  $array = string_to_array($string);
 * 
 * @return array $results
 */
function string_to_array($string, $element_delimiter = '|', $value_delimiter = ':') {
    $results = array();
    $array = explode($element_delimiter, $string);
    foreach ($array as $result) {
        $element = explode($value_delimiter, $result);
        $results[$element[0]] = $element[1];
    }
    return $results;
}

/**
 * @desc Associative array to string
 * 
 * @param type $array
 * @param type $element_delimiter
 * @param type $value_delimiter
 * 
 * @example
  $array = array('class' => 'in-line', 'rel' => 'external');
  $string = array_to_string($array);
 * 
 * @return string
 */
function array_to_string($array, $element_delimiter = '|', $value_delimiter = ':') {
    array_walk($array, create_function('&$i,$k', 'if (strlen($k) > 0){$i="' . $element_delimiter . '$k' . $value_delimiter . '$i";}'));
    return substr(implode($array, ""), 1);
}