<?php
//recursive solution

//test array
$nested_array = [[1,2,[3]],4,[5],[[[6,[7=>[7,8,9,10]]]]]];

/*-----------------------------------------
function call and return result to an array
------------------------------------------*/
$index_count = 1;
$flatered_array = array();
$flatered_array = flat_array($nested_array, $index_count);

/*-----------------------------------------
Print Result
-----------------------------------------*/
echo "<pre>";
print_r($flatered_array);


/*-----------------------------------------
function to flaten an array 
-----------------------------------------*/
function flat_array($nested_array, & $index_count, & $flatered_array) {

  foreach($nested_array AS $key=>$val) {
      if(is_array($val)) {
        flat_array($val, $index_count, $flatered_array);
      }
      else {
        $flatered_array[$index_count] = $val;
        ++$index_count;
      }      
  }

return $flatered_array;
}
?>

这个解是非递归的。注意，元素的顺序会有些混合。

function flatten($array) {
    $return = array();
    while(count($array)) {
        $value = array_shift($array);
        if(is_array($value))
            foreach($value as $sub)
                $array[] = $sub;
        else
            $return[] = $value;
    }
    return $return;
}

使用递归。希望在看到它有多简单的时候，你对递归的恐惧会在你看到它有多简单的时候消失。

function flatten($array) {
    if (!is_array($array)) {
        // nothing to do if it's not an array
        return array($array);
    }

    $result = array();
    foreach ($array as $value) {
        // explode the sub-array, and add the parts
        $result = array_merge($result, flatten($value));
    }

    return $result;
}


$arr = array('foo', array('nobody', 'expects', array('another', 'level'), 'the', 'Spanish', 'Inquisition'), 'bar');
echo '<ul>';
foreach (flatten($arr) as $value) {
    echo '<li>', $value, '</li>';
}
echo '<ul>';

输出:

<ul><li>foo</li><li>nobody</li><li>expects</li><li>another</li><li>level</li><li>the</li><li>Spanish</li><li>Inquisition</li><li>bar</li><ul>

对于php 5.2

function flatten(array $array) {
    $result = array();

    if (is_array($array)) {
        foreach ($array as $k => $v) {
            if (is_array($v)) {
                $result = array_merge($result, flatten($v));
            } else {
                $result[] = $v;
            }
        }
    }

    return $result;
}

诀窍是通过引用传递源数组和目标数组。

function flatten_array(&$arr, &$dst) {
    if(!isset($dst) || !is_array($dst)) {
        $dst = array();
    }
    if(!is_array($arr)) {
        $dst[] = $arr;
    } else {
        foreach($arr as &$subject) {
            flatten_array($subject, $dst);
        }
    }
}

$recursive = array('1', array('2','3',array('4',array('5','6')),'7',array(array(array('8'),'9'),'10')));
echo "Recursive: \r\n";
print_r($recursive);
$flat = null;
flatten_array($recursive, $flat);

echo "Flat: \r\n";
print_r($flat);

// If you change line 3 to $dst[] = &$arr; , you won't waste memory,
// since all you're doing is copying references, and imploding the array 
// into a string will be both memory efficient and fast:)

echo "String:\r\n";
echo implode(',',$flat);

因为这里的代码看起来很可怕。下面是一个将多维数组转换为html格式兼容语法的函数，但它更容易阅读。

/**
 * Flattens a multi demensional array into a one dimensional
 * to be compatible with hidden html fields.
 *
 * @param array $array
 *  Array in the form:
 *  array(
 *    'a' => array(
 *      'b' => '1'
 *    )
 *  )
 *
 * @return array
 *  Array in the form:
 *  array(
 *    'a[b]' => 1,
 *  )
 */
function flatten_array($array) {
  // Continue until $array is a one-dimensional array.
  $continue = TRUE;
  while ($continue) {
    $continue = FALSE;

    // Walk through top and second level of $array and move 
    // all values in the second level up one level.
    foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
      if (is_array($value)) {
        // Second level found, therefore continue.
        $continue = TRUE;

        // Move each value a level up.
        foreach ($value as $child_key => $child_value) {
          $array[$key . '[' . $child_key . ']'] = $child_value;
        }

        // Remove second level array from top level.
        unset($array[$key]);
      }
    }
  }

  return $array;
}