Convert Object to Array in PHP

There are quite a few ways to do this and each of them has its strengths and weaknesses. Find out if one suits your needs by trying one of the approaches below.

Casting with (array)

$array = (array) $obj;

Problem is this doesn’t convert complex / multi-dimensional objects well.

get_object_vars()

$array = get_object_vars( $obj );

$array would then be an array of properties and values from $obj that are accessible in the current scope.

Custom function for complex objects

function objectToArray( $object )
    {
        if( !is_object( $object ) && !is_array( $object ) )
        {
            return $object;
        }
        if( is_object( $object ) )
        {
            $object = get_object_vars( $object );
        }
        return array_map( 'objectToArray', $object );
    }

$array = objectToArray( $obj );

This function is conjured by PHPRO.ORG.

JSON – json_encode(), json_decode()

$json  = json_encode($object);
$array = json_decode($json, true);

This is probably the coolest approach delivered by Andy.

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