Function - Parse Google merchant center shopping categories into Array or JSON - works with search url param or direct category_id argument

dev_script_google_merch_taxonomy.php

<?php

// This is part of a product class, this function shalt also be available via route with optional ?search= param
// $this->request->get is platform specific, change it to whatever your request wrapper uses

public function googlecats($cat_ids = false) {

	// default format
	$json = true;

	$pool = $mitigate = $output = array();

	$pool = file('http://www.google.com/basepages/producttype/taxonomy-with-ids.en-US.txt', FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES|FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES);

	$version = array_shift($pool);

	foreach ($pool as $row) {
		list($id, $cat) = explode(' - ', $row);
		$mitigate[$id] = $cat;
	}

	// done with $pool
	unset($pool);

	if (isset($this->request->get['search'])) {
		
		// check for ?search= query and make placeholder for space
		$search = str_replace('%20', '~~~', (string)$this->request->get['search']);
		
		foreach ($mitigate as $key => $value) {
			str_replace(' ', '~~~', $value);
		
			if ((stripos($key, $search) !== false) || (stripos($value, $search) !== false)) {
				// as 1 associative array
				// $output[$key] = $value;
				
				// as double key => value array
				$output[] = array('g_cid' => $key, 'g_cat' => $value);
			}
		}

	} elseif (isset($cat_ids)) {
	
		// check for $cat_ids array
		foreach ($cat_ids as $cat_id) {
			foreach ($mitigate as $key => $value) {
				if ($key == $cat_id) {
					// as 1 associative array
					// $output[$key] = $value;
					
					// as double key => value array
					$output[] = array('g_cid' => $key, 'g_cat' => $value);
				}
			}
		}
		
		// output array instead
		$json = false;

	} else {

		$output = $mitigate;
	}
	
	// done with $mitigate
	unset($mitigate);
	
	// return output as json or array
	if (empty($output)) {
		return false;
	} elseif ($json) {
		echo json_encode($output);
	} else {
		return $output;
	}
}