search a php array for partial string match

Question

I have an array and I\'d like to search for the string \'green\'. So in this case it should return the $arr[2]

$arr = array(0 =>         


        

Answer 1

This is a function for normal or multidimensional arrays.

• Case in-sensitive
• Works for normal arrays and multidimentional
• Works when finding full or partial stings

Here's the code (version 1):

function array_find($needle, array $haystack, $column = null) {

    if(is_array($haystack[0]) === true) { // check for multidimentional array

        foreach (array_column($haystack, $column) as $key => $value) {
            if (strpos(strtolower($value), strtolower($needle)) !== false) {
                return $key;
            }
        }

    } else {
        foreach ($haystack as $key => $value) { // for normal array
            if (strpos(strtolower($value), strtolower($needle)) !== false) {
                return $key;
            }
        }
    }
    return false;
} 

Here is an example:

$multiArray = array(
     0 => array(
              'name' => 'kevin',
              'hobbies' => 'Football / Cricket'),
      1 => array(
              'name' => 'tom',
              'hobbies' => 'tennis'),
       2 => array(
              'name' => 'alex',
              'hobbies' => 'Golf, Softball')
);
$singleArray = array(
        0 => 'Tennis',
        1 => 'Cricket',
);

echo "key is - ". array_find('cricket', $singleArray); // returns - key is - 1
echo "key is - ". array_find('cricket', $multiArray, 'hobbies'); // returns - key is - 0 

For multidimensional arrays only - $column relates to the name of the key inside each array. If the $needle appeared more than once, I suggest adding onto this to add each key to an array.

Here is an example if you are expecting multiple matches (version 2):

function array_find($needle, array $haystack, $column = null) {

    $keyArray = array();

    if(is_array($haystack[0]) === true) { // for multidimentional array

        foreach (array_column($haystack, $column) as $key => $value) {
            if (strpos(strtolower($value), strtolower($needle)) !== false) {
                $keyArray[] = $key;

            }
        }

    } else {
        foreach ($haystack as $key => $value) { // for normal array
            if (strpos(strtolower($value), strtolower($needle)) !== false) {
                $keyArray[] = $key;
            }
        }
    }

    if(empty($keyArray)) {
        return false;
    }
    if(count($keyArray) == 1) {
        return $keyArray[0];
    } else {
        return $keyArray;
    }

}

This returns the key if it has just one match, but if there are multiple matches for the $needle inside any of the $column's then it will return an array of the matching keys.

Hope this helps :)