using eval in PHP with multidimensional array

Question

Hello,

I have a array that I am writing to a file using var_export(). I reload the array every time the script starts. However, whenever I try to reference a variable inside the array it returns 'a', I can do a print_r() and see the array just fine, I just can not access the variable I want. Here is the saved output:

array (
  'timestamp' => '1283882964',
  'files_submitted' => 2943,
  'errors' => array (
                     '/home/benk/bull_copy/bull_mnt//WebFS/Projects/Inactive/2002_Product_Testing/tests/Functional Test  Cases 2001122301.doc' => array (
                                                                                                                                                         'STATUS' => 400,
                                                                                                                                                  ),
                     '/home/benk/bull_copy/bull_mnt//WebFS/Projects/Inactive/2002_Product_Testing/tests/Functional Test  Cases for atrust 20020905.doc' => array (
                                                                                                                                                                  'STATUS' => 400,
                                                                                                                                                            ),
              )
)

Here is the code I use to save:

function add_log_entry($filename,$return_arr) {
        //$timestamp = strval(mktime());
        $return_arr['timestamp'] = mktime();
        $return_str = var_export($return_arr,true);
        return file_put_contents($filename, $return_str);
}

Here is the code I use to recall the array:

function get_log_entry($filename) {

        $var_str = file_get_contents($filename);
        eval("\$return_var = \$var_str;");
        die($return_var['timestamp']);
        return $return_var;
}

You can see I put the die() in the recall code and this is where the 'a' is coming from.

Thanks to whom ever responds.

Ben

Answer 1

use the php functions serialize and unserialize, no need to write your own hacks using var_export and eval (apart from the security implications)

example code:

 file_put_contents($filename, serialize($array));
 $array = unserialize(file_get_contents($filename));