John Davidson

Message:

How can I "import" a PHP array into a seperate NodeJS file?

Example:

example.php

<?php

return array(

    'title' => 'Example Value',

    'description' => 'Example Value'

);

My attempt was to read it through executing the file but then I only get an empty response

const runner = require('child_process');

const scriptPath = 'pathtofile/filename.php';



runner.exec('php ' + scriptPath, (err, phpResponse, stderr) => {

    console.log(phpResponse);

})

Note that I cannot modify the PHP files.

---

My Answer:
read a PHP array into a NodeJS function?

One way to achieve this is by using a library like `php-serialize` to serialize the PHP array into a string, and then pass that string to your NodeJS function.

Here's an example of how you can do this:

1. In your PHP code, serialize the array:

php
$array = array('foo' => 'bar', 'baz' => 'qux');
$serializedArray = serialize($array);
echo $serializedArray;


2. In your NodeJS code, install the `php-serialize` library:

bash
npm install php-serialize


3. Use the `php-serialize` library to unserialize the PHP array in your NodeJS function:

javascript
const phpSerialize = require('php-serialize');

const serializedArray = 'a:2:{s:3:"foo";s:3:"bar";s:3:"baz";s:3:"qux";}';
const unserializedArray = phpSerialize.unserialize(serializedArray);

console.log(unserializedArray);


This will output:

javascript
{ foo: 'bar', baz: 'qux' }


This way, you can easily read a PHP array into a NodeJS function by serializing it in PHP and unserializing it in NodeJS.