Convert dictionary to string (PHP)

February 19, 2023

I need to write a function that converts a dictionary (array) ['a' => 1, 'b' => 2] to a string '[a => 1, b => 2]'.

I am trying to iterate over the array and just build a string from its items:

function dictToString(array $dict): string {
    foreach($dict as $key => $value) {
        echo $key . " => " . $value . ", ";
    }
    return "";
}

However, I’m not sure how to perform it well. I am getting such output: a => 1, b => 2,. Don’t know how to include brackets and get rid of the redundant comma.

Also not sure if this is even a good approach, maybe there’s a better way.

>Solution :

You can use something like this

function dictToString(array $dict): string {
    $str = '[';
    foreach($dict as $key => $value) {
        $str .= $key . " => " . $value . ", ";
    }
    $str = rtrim($str, ", ");
    $str .= ']';
    return $str;
}

echo dictToString(['a' => 1, 'b' => 2]);

rtrim() remove the comma from the last iteration