Method getArrayRecursive

/**
 * Gets an array of values from the request.
 *
 * @param   array   $vars           Associative array of keys and filter types to apply.
 *                                  If empty and datasource is null, all the input data will be returned
 *                                  but filtered using the filter given by the parameter defaultFilter in
 *                                  InputFilter::clean.
 * @param   mixed   $datasource     Array to retrieve data from, or null.
 * @param   string  $defaultFilter  Default filter used in InputFilter::clean if vars is empty and
 *                                  datasource is null. If 'unknown', the default case is used in
 *                                  InputFilter::clean.
 * @param   bool    $recursion      Flag to indicate a recursive function call.
 *
 * @return  mixed  The filtered input data.
 *
 * @since   3.4.2
 * @deprecated  5.0  Use Joomla\Input\Input instead
 */
protected function getArrayRecursive(array $vars = array(), $datasource = null, $defaultFilter = 'unknown', $recursion = false)
{
    if (empty($vars) && \is_null($datasource)) {
        $vars = $this->data;
    } else {
        if (!$recursion) {
            $defaultFilter = null;
        }
    }
    $results = array();
    foreach ($vars as $k => $v) {
        if (\is_array($v)) {
            if (\is_null($datasource)) {
                $results[$k] = $this->getArrayRecursive($v, $this->get($k, null, 'array'), $defaultFilter, true);
            } else {
                $results[$k] = $this->getArrayRecursive($v, $datasource[$k], $defaultFilter, true);
            }
        } else {
            $filter = $defaultFilter ?? $v;
            if (\is_null($datasource)) {
                $results[$k] = $this->get($k, null, $filter);
            } elseif (isset($datasource[$k])) {
                $results[$k] = $this->filter->clean($datasource[$k], $filter);
            } else {
                $results[$k] = $this->filter->clean(null, $filter);
            }
        }
    }
    return $results;
}