Using a string path to set nested array data

Well tested and 100% working code. Set, get, unset values from an array using "parents". The parents can be either array('path', 'to', 'value') or a string path.to.value. Based on Drupal's code

 /**
 * @param array $array
 * @param array|string $parents
 * @param string $glue
 * @return mixed
 */
function array_get_value(array &$array, $parents, $glue = '.')
{
    if (!is_array($parents)) {
        $parents = explode($glue, $parents);
    }

    $ref = &$array;

    foreach ((array) $parents as $parent) {
        if (is_array($ref) && array_key_exists($parent, $ref)) {
            $ref = &$ref[$parent];
        } else {
            return null;
        }
    }
    return $ref;
}

/**
 * @param array $array
 * @param array|string $parents
 * @param mixed $value
 * @param string $glue
 */
function array_set_value(array &$array, $parents, $value, $glue = '.')
{
    if (!is_array($parents)) {
        $parents = explode($glue, (string) $parents);
    }

    $ref = &$array;

    foreach ($parents as $parent) {
        if (isset($ref) && !is_array($ref)) {
            $ref = array();
        }

        $ref = &$ref[$parent];
    }

    $ref = $value;
}

/**
 * @param array $array
 * @param array|string $parents
 * @param string $glue
 */
function array_unset_value(&$array, $parents, $glue = '.')
{
    if (!is_array($parents)) {
        $parents = explode($glue, $parents);
    }

    $key = array_shift($parents);

    if (empty($parents)) {
        unset($array[$key]);
    } else {
        array_unset_value($array[$key], $parents);
    }
}

Based on alexisdm's response :

/**
 * Sets a value in a nested array based on path
 * See https://stackoverflow.com/a/9628276/419887
 *
 * @param array $array The array to modify
 * @param string $path The path in the array
 * @param mixed $value The value to set
 * @param string $delimiter The separator for the path
 * @return The previous value
 */
function set_nested_array_value(&$array, $path, &$value, $delimiter = '/') {
    $pathParts = explode($delimiter, $path);

    $current = &$array;
    foreach($pathParts as $key) {
        $current = &$current[$key];
    }

    $backup = $current;
    $current = $value;

    return $backup;
}

Use the reference operator to get the successive existing arrays:

$temp = &$data;
foreach($exploded as $key) {
    $temp = &$temp[$key];
}
$temp = $value;
unset($temp);