CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phparraysmultidimensional-arrayfilter
S.Mason
S.Mason

Reputation: 3647

How to search a multi-dimensional array by multiple values at once in PHP?

Given the following 2D array: 

$data_info_array = array( 
array( 
    'score'   => '100', 
    'name'    => 'Alice', 
    'subject' => 'Data Structures'
), 
array( 
    'score'   => '50', 
    'name'    => 'Bob', 
    'subject' => 'Advanced Algorithms'
), 
array( 
    'score'   => '75', 
    'name'    => 'Charlie', 
    'subject' => 'Distributed Computing'
) 
); 

// this gets the key when I search for the score of 50 from one column
$index = array_search('50', array_column($data_info_array, 'score')); 
echo $index;

If I want to search by two values I can only think of something like: 

 $index1 = array_search('50', array_column($data_info_array, 'score')); 
 $index2 = array_search('Bob', array_column($data_info_array, 'name')); 
 $real_index = ( $index1 === $index2 ) ? $index1 : null;

Is there a way I can search for score of '50' and name of 'Bob' together and get the index to that only if that combo exists? Is there a better way do do than what I've come up with?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 4955

Answers (3)

Casimir et Hippolyte
Casimir et Hippolyte

Reputation: 89557

You can build your search query as an array and compare the intersection of each item with it.

$search = ['score' => '50', 'name' => 'Bob'];

foreach($data_info_array as $k => $v) {
    if ( $search === array_intersect($v, $search) ) {
        echo $k;
        break;
    }
}

@mickmackusa noticed it is safer to use array_intersect_assoc() here. He's right because when the multi-dimensional array items are unpredictable, nothing forbids to have items like that:

['miaou' => '50', 'graou' => 'Bob', 'score' => '50', 'name' => 'Bob']

where the searched values are also present but for other keys. In this case array_intersect() returns all correct values (with their corresponding keys of course) regardless the keys in $search, and the comparison with the search array will return false.

But using array_intersect_assoc(), you ensure that only values for keys in $search are taken in account.

Conclusion: If you let yourself be lulled into sleep by the seeming monotony of multidimensional array items, you won't be immune to surprise when unexpected variations arise.

Upvotes: 4

Chris L
Chris L

Reputation: 129

Here is a nice one-liner, utilizing PHP arrow functions 

$name = "Alice";
$score = "100";

$result = array_filter($data_info_array, fn($data) => $data['name'] == $name && $data['score'] == $score );

print_r($result);

Upvotes: 2

Nigel Ren
Nigel Ren

Reputation: 57121

You can use array_filter(), which allows you to do as many checks on the contents as you need at the same time...

$output = array_filter($data_info_array, function ($data) {
    return $data['score'] == 50 && $data['name'] == 'Bob';
});

This will give you a list of the matches, so you may need to do [0] (and check if only 1 is returned) if you need a single match.

Upvotes: 6

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