This document outlines some of the more useful functions in the PHP array

toolkit, and features detailed explanations and usage examples.

Like arrays in other languages, PHP (http://www.techrepubl i c.com/5048-22-0.html ?
nodeIds=al l &go=GO&nodeIds=al l &tag=search&queryType=4&SearchThi s=php) arrays allow you to store multiple values in a single
variable and operate on them as a set. PHP offers an extensive array manipulation toolkitover 60 functionsthat lets you
process arrays in almost any way imaginable including reversing them, extracting subsets, comparing and sorting,
recursively processing, and searching them for specific values.
This document outlines some of the more useful functions in the PHP array toolkit (http://www.php.net/), with explanations and
usage examples:
This table is also available as free downloadable PDF (http://www.techrepubl i c.com/5138-3513-5792845.html ).
Function Explanation Example
sizeof($arr) This function returns the number of
elements in an array.
Use this function to find out how many
elements an array contains; this
information is most commonly used to
initialize a loop counter when
processing the array.
Code:
$data = array("red", "green", "blue");
echo "Array has " . sizeof($data) . " elements";
?>
Output:
Array has 3 elements
array_values($arr) This function accepts a PHP array and
returns a new array containing only its
values (not its keys). Its counterpart is
the array_keys() function.
Use this function to retrieve all the
values from an associative array.
Code:
$data = array("hero" => "Holmes", "villain" =>
"Moriarty");
print_r(array_values($data));
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => Holmes
[1] => Moriarty
)
WEB DEVELOPMENT
17 useful functions for manipulating arrays in PHP
By Contri butor Mel onfi re Jul y 18, 2005, 8:53 AM PST
array_keys($arr) This function accepts a PHP array and
returns a new array containing only its
keys (not its values). Its counterpart is
the array_values() function.
Use this function to retrieve all the
keys from an associative array.
Code:
$data = array("hero" => "Holmes", "villain" =>
"Moriarty");
print_r(array_keys($data));
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => hero
[1] => villain
)
array_pop($arr) This function removes an element from
the end of an array.
Code:
$data = array("Donald", "Jim", "Tom");
array_pop($data);
print_r($data);
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => Donald
[1] => Jim
)
array_push($arr, $val) This function adds an element to the
end of an array.
Code:
$data = array("Donald", "Jim", "Tom");
array_push($data, "Harry");
print_r($data);
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => Donald
[1] => Jim
[2] => Tom
[3] => Harry
)
array_shift($arr) This function removes an element from
the beginning of an array.
Code:
$data = array("Donald", "Jim", "Tom");
array_shift($data);
print_r($data);
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => Jim
[1] => Tom
)
array_unshift($arr, $val) This function adds an element to the
beginning of an array.
Code:
$data = array("Donald", "Jim", "Tom");
array_unshift($data, "Sarah");
print_r($data);
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => Sarah
[1] => Donald
[2] => Jim
[3] => Tom
)
each($arr) This function is most often used to
iteratively traverse an array. Each time
each() is called, it returns the current
key-value pair and moves the array
cursor forward one element. This
makes it most suitable for use in a
loop.
Code:
$data = array("hero" => "Holmes", "villain" =>
"Moriarty");
while (list($key, $value) = each($data)) {
echo "$key: $value \n";
}
?>
Output:
hero: Holmes
villain: Moriarty
sort($arr) This function sorts the elements of an
array in ascending order. String values
will be arranged in ascending
alphabetical order.
Note: Other sorting functions include
asort(), arsort(), ksort(), krsort() and
rsort().
Code:
$data = array("g", "t", "a", "s");
sort($data);
print_r($data);
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => a
[1] => g
[2] => s
[3] => t
)
array_flip($arr) The function exchanges the keys and
values of a PHP associative array.
Use this function if you have a tabular
(rows and columns) structure in an
array, and you want to interchange the
rows and columns.
Code:
$data = array("a" => "apple", "b" => "ball");
print_r(array_flip($data));
?>
Output:
Array
(
[apple] => a
[ball] => b
)
array_reverse($arr) The function reverses the order of
elements in an array.
Use this function to re-order a sorted
list of values in reverse for easier
processingfor example, when you're
trying to begin with the minimum or
maximum of a set of ordered values.
Code:
$data = array(10, 20, 25, 60);
print_r(array_reverse($data));
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => 60
[1] => 25
[2] => 20
[3] => 10
)
array_merge($arr) This function merges two or more
arrays to create a single composite
array. Key collisions are resolved in
favor of the latest entry.
Use this function when you need to
combine data from two or more arrays
into a single structurefor example,
records from two different SQL queries.
Code:
$data1 = array("cat", "goat");
$data2 = array("dog", "cow");
print_r(array_merge($data1, $data2));
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => cat
[1] => goat
[2] => dog
[3] => cow
)
array_rand($arr) This function selects one or more
random elements from an array.
Use this function when you need to
randomly select from a collection of
discrete valuesfor example, picking a
random color from a list.
Code:
$data = array("white", "black", "red");
echo "Today's color is " .
$data[array_rand($data)];
?>
Output:
Today's color is red
array_search($search, $arr) This function searches the values in an
array for a match to the search term,
and returns the corresponding key if
found. If more than one match exists,
the key of the first matching value is
returned.
Use this function to scan a set of
index-value pairs for matches, and
return the matching index.
Code:
$data = array("blue" => "#0000cc", "black" =>
"#000000", "green" => "#00ff00");
echo "Found " . array_search("#0000cc",
$data);
?>
Output:
Found blue
array_slice($arr, $offset, $length) This function is useful to extract a
subset of the elements of an array, as
Code:
$data = array("vanilla", "strawberry", "mango",
another array. Extracting begins from
array offset $offset and continues until
the array slice is $length elements
long.
Use this function to break a larger
array into smaller onesfor example,
when segmenting an array by size
("chunking") or type of data.
"peaches");
print_r(array_slice($data, 1, 2));
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => strawberry
[1] => mango
)
array_unique($data) This function strips an array of
duplicate values.
Use this function when you need to
remove non-unique elements from an
arrayfor example, when creating an
array to hold values for a table's
primary key.
Code:
$data = array(1,1,4,6,7,4);
print_r(array_unique($data));
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => 1
[3] => 6
[4] => 7
[5] => 4
)
array_walk($arr, $func) This function "walks" through an array,
applying a user-defined function to
every element. It returns the changed
array.
Use this function if you need to perform
custom processing on every element of
an arrayfor example, reducing a
number series by 10%.
Code:
function reduceBy10(&$val, $key) {
$val -= $val * 0.1;
}
$data = array(10,20,30,40);
array_walk($data, 'reduceBy10');
print_r($data);
?>
Output:
Array
(
[0] => 9
[1] => 18
[2] => 27
[3] => 36
)
You May Also Like