Read dot or php style input notation in any object at any depth.

DeepValueReaderSketch.php

<?php

$data = array(
	'namespace' => array(
		'foo' => array(
			'bar' => 'You found me!'
		)
	)
);

$vs = new ValueStore;

d( $vs->deepValue('namespace.foo.bar', $data) );
d( $vs->deepValue('namespace[foo][bar]', $data) );
d( $vs->deepValue('nope', $data) );
d( $vs->deepValue('namespace', $data) );
d( $vs->deepValue('namespace.foo', $data) );

class ValueStore {
	public function deepValue($name, $data) {
		$data = (array) $data;

		$nameParts = $this->getNameParts($name);
		foreach ($nameParts as $part) {
			$data = empty($data[$part]) ? null : $data[$part];
			if (!$data)
				break;
		}

		return $data;
	}

	public function getNameParts($name) {
		if (strpos($name, '[') !== false) {
			// php style
			preg_match_all("/([^\[\]]+)/i", $name, $matches, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER);
		} elseif (strpos($name, '.') !== false) {
			// dot notation
			preg_match_all("/([^\.]+)/i", $name, $matches, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER);
		} else {
			$matches[] = array($name);
		}

		return $matches[0];
	}
}

function d($d) { ?><pre><?php var_dump($d); ?></pre><?php }

/*

So boss.

string(13) "You found me!"

string(13) "You found me!"

NULL

array(1) {
  ["foo"]=>
  array(1) {
    ["bar"]=>
    string(13) "You found me!"
  }
}

array(1) {
  ["bar"]=>
  string(13) "You found me!"
}

*/