[thelist] PHP explode, and name value pairs

[Donald Noble]

Hi evolters, hope you can help me with this...

Using PHP, what is the 'best' way to handle a series of name value pairs
that are to be stored as a single string but need to be manipulated as
separate items. To make things more complicated there will be a variable
number of name value pairs.

I have used the explode function to create an array of items from a
list, but I am unsure how best to extend this to name value pairs.

The 2 ideas I had had were:

Store the data in the form  name1:value1/name2:value2/name3:value3 then
split this up into an array so that array['name1']==value1 etc.

Alternatively store the data as name1:name2:name3/value1:value2:value3
and then split the data into 2, then into 2 arrays so that
names[0]==name1 and values[0]==value1

Which of these would be easier/faster/better - or is there another way
to do this altogether

Cheers for your help, Donald

--
     http://www.AccessibleComputers.co.uk
 Hardware, Software & Custom built PC Systems



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