in_array() and multidimensional array

Question

I use in_array() to check whether a value exists in an array like below,

$a = array(\"Mac\", \"NT\", \"Irix\", \"Linux\");
if (in_array(\"Irix\"         


        

Answer 1

This is the first function of this type that I found in the php manual for in_array. Functions in the comment sections aren't always the best but if it doesn't do the trick you can look in there too :)

<?php
function in_multiarray($elem, $array)
    {
        // if the $array is an array or is an object
         if( is_array( $array ) || is_object( $array ) )
         {
             // if $elem is in $array object
             if( is_object( $array ) )
             {
                 $temp_array = get_object_vars( $array );
                 if( in_array( $elem, $temp_array ) )
                     return TRUE;
             }

             // if $elem is in $array return true
             if( is_array( $array ) && in_array( $elem, $array ) )
                 return TRUE;


             // if $elem isn't in $array, then check foreach element
             foreach( $array as $array_element )
             {
                 // if $array_element is an array or is an object call the in_multiarray function to this element
                 // if in_multiarray returns TRUE, than return is in array, else check next element
                 if( ( is_array( $array_element ) || is_object( $array_element ) ) && $this->in_multiarray( $elem, $array_element ) )
                 {
                     return TRUE;
                     exit;
                 }
             }
         }

         // if isn't in array return FALSE
         return FALSE;
    }
?>

Answer 2

what about array_search? seems it quite faster than foreach according to https://gist.github.com/Ocramius/1290076 ..

if( array_search("Irix", $a) === true) 
{
    echo "Got Irix";
}

Answer 3

in_array() does not work on multidimensional arrays. You could write a recursive function to do that for you:

function in_array_r($needle, $haystack, $strict = false) {
    foreach ($haystack as $item) {
        if (($strict ? $item === $needle : $item == $needle) || (is_array($item) && in_array_r($needle, $item, $strict))) {
            return true;
        }
    }

    return false;
}

Usage:

$b = array(array("Mac", "NT"), array("Irix", "Linux"));
echo in_array_r("Irix", $b) ? 'found' : 'not found';

Answer 4

Great function, but it didnt work for me until i added the if($found) { break; } to the elseif

function in_array_r($needle, $haystack) {
    $found = false;
    foreach ($haystack as $item) {
    if ($item === $needle) { 
            $found = true; 
            break; 
        } elseif (is_array($item)) {
            $found = in_array_r($needle, $item); 
            if($found) { 
                break; 
            } 
        }    
    }
    return $found;
}