PHP Array Search

A web application cannot be completed without using some set of available tools and the technologies of any specific programming language. Features like dealing with the arrays are related functionalities are very common for any web application, searching is one of them. Yes, you read it right, the array search is one of the common functionality of the array when we search an element into a defined array. An element of the array can be searched in various ways. We can also search for an array inside a multi-dimensional array. There are many ways we can go for searching functionality with the array and its elements. We can take built-in functions like array_search(), in_array(), etc into the action to get our job as per our business requirements.

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Syntax of PHP Array Search

Syntax of php array search are given below:

Syntax:

array_search()
array_search(element_value, array)

This function can be used to search an array value into an array and return the key (position) of that element. There are only two parameters we can see the first one is the element value and the second one is the array itself.

array_search(element_value, array, strict)

Other things remain the same as we discussed in the above syntax expect we have one additional parameter here. The parameter strict is all about using an additional check if the element value belongs to the same data type. In other words, if we go for TRUE in place of strict then the number 10 will not be equal to the “10” (string 10). Strict can carry either true or false, this is an optional parameter. By default the strict will be considered as false.

in_array()
in_array(search_value, array);

This functional will check if any specific search value exists inside an array or not. The return type of this function will be Boolean.

in_array(search, array, type)

The explanation of this function remains the same as the earlier one. It carries an extra parameter that is for the strictness like we see in the array_search().

How does PHP Array Search Work?

Before getting the searching job done for us we need to have at least two things an array first then the element value that needs to be searched in the given array.

We can use the below-mentioned function as per our business requirement:

array_search()
in_array()

We can also use the various variant of these functions to get the job done, we will see the functionality of theses into the example area. The array search operation can be performed on the multiple arrays as well, for this we can also go for writing our own custom code.

Examples of PHP Array Search

Following are the examples of php array search are:

Example #1

Search an array element in a given.

Code:

<?php $array = array('value -1', 'value 2', 'value 3', 'value 4', 'value 5','value -6','value -7');
$newArrays = array_search("value 5",$array); // apply array search
if($newArrays){
echo "Search found on array position: " . $newArrays; // printing the position of element if found.
}else{
echo "Nothing found.";
}
?>

Output:

Example #2

Let’s try to check how the function array_search() will work with its 3 parameters.

Code:

<?php $array = array('value -1', 'value 2', 'value 3', 'value 4', '5','value -6','value -7');
$newArrays = array_search(5,$array,FALSE); // apply array search
echo "<b>With false<br>";
if($newArrays){
echo "Search found on array position: " . $newArrays; // printing the position of element if found.
}else{
echo "Nothing found.";
}
echo "<br><b>With True</b><br>";
$newArrays2 = array_search(5,$array,TRUE); // apply array search
if($newArrays2){
echo "Search found on array position: " . $newArrays2; // printing the position of element if found.
}else{
echo "Nothing found.";
}
?>

Look at the value 5, 4th element of the array in the above program. We are trying to search by using array_search() with TRUE or FALSE as a third parameter.

Output:

Example #3

Let’s try to split the array and assigned to predefined array.

Code:

<?php $array = array('value -1', 'value 2', 'value 3', 'value 4', 'value 5','value -6','value -7');
$newArrays = in_array("value 5",$array); // apply array search
if($newArrays){
echo "Search found."; // printing the position of element if found.
}else{
echo "Nothing found.";
}
?>

Output:

Example #4

Array Search with an associate array.

Yes, these searches can use the search the element of an array. We also have a built-in function in PHP which will check for if a defined key exists in an array or not.

Code:

<?php $array = array(1=> 'value -1', 11=> 'value 2', 12=> 'value 3', 15=> 'value 4', 5=> '5', 6=> 'value -6');
$newArrays = array_search(5,$array,FALSE); // apply array search
echo "<b>With false</b><br>";
if($newArrays){
echo "Search found on position ".$newArrays; // printing the position of element if found.
}else{
echo "Nothing found.";
}
echo "<br>The use of the array_key_exists()<br>";
if (array_key_exists(12,$array))
{
echo "Key 12 exists.";
}
else
{
echo "Key 12 does not exist.";
}
?>

Output:

Conclusion

There are built-in functions in the PHP language to handle the array element search in an array. array_search(), in_array(), array_key_exists() etc are one of most popular way to get the searching related job done. We need to make sure that we are using the right function as per the requirements as a significant difference among the functions can be seen as stated in various examples (mentioned above).

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