You can also use the alternative syntax for the foreach cycle:
<?php
foreach($array as $element):
#do something
endforeach;
?>
Just thought it worth mentioning.
(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)
The foreach construct provides an easy way to iterate over arrays. foreach works only on arrays and objects, and will issue an error when you try to use it on a variable with a different data type or an uninitialized variable. There are two syntaxes:
foreach (array_expression as $value)
statement
foreach (array_expression as $key => $value)
statement
The first form loops over the array given by array_expression. On each iteration, the value of the current element is assigned to $value and the internal array pointer is advanced by one (so on the next iteration, you'll be looking at the next element).
The second form will additionally assign the current element's key to the $key variable on each iteration.
It is possible to customize object iteration.
Note:
In PHP 5, when foreach first starts executing, the internal array pointer is automatically reset to the first element of the array. This means that you do not need to call reset() before a foreach loop.
As foreach relies on the internal array pointer in PHP 5, changing it within the loop may lead to unexpected behavior.
In PHP 7, foreach does not use the internal array pointer.
In order to be able to directly modify array elements within the loop precede $value with &. In that case the value will be assigned by reference.
<?php
$arr = array(1, 2, 3, 4);
foreach ($arr as &$value) {
$value = $value * 2;
}
// $arr is now array(2, 4, 6, 8)
unset($value); // break the reference with the last element
?>
Referencing $value is only possible if the iterated array can be referenced (i.e. if it is a variable). The following code won't work:
<?php
foreach (array(1, 2, 3, 4) as &$value) {
$value = $value * 2;
}
?>
Reference of a $value and the last array element remain even after the foreach loop. It is recommended to destroy it by unset().
Note:
foreach does not support the ability to suppress error messages using '@'.
You may have noticed that the following are functionally identical:
<?php
$arr = array("one", "two", "three");
reset($arr);
while (list(, $value) = each($arr)) {
echo "Value: $value<br />\n";
}
foreach ($arr as $value) {
echo "Value: $value<br />\n";
}
?>
The following are also functionally identical:
<?php
$arr = array("one", "two", "three");
reset($arr);
while (list($key, $value) = each($arr)) {
echo "Key: $key; Value: $value<br />\n";
}
foreach ($arr as $key => $value) {
echo "Key: $key; Value: $value<br />\n";
}
?>
Some more examples to demonstrate usage:
<?php
/* foreach example 1: value only */
$a = array(1, 2, 3, 17);
foreach ($a as $v) {
echo "Current value of \$a: $v.\n";
}
/* foreach example 2: value (with its manual access notation printed for illustration) */
$a = array(1, 2, 3, 17);
$i = 0; /* for illustrative purposes only */
foreach ($a as $v) {
echo "\$a[$i] => $v.\n";
$i++;
}
/* foreach example 3: key and value */
$a = array(
"one" => 1,
"two" => 2,
"three" => 3,
"seventeen" => 17
);
foreach ($a as $k => $v) {
echo "\$a[$k] => $v.\n";
}
/* foreach example 4: multi-dimensional arrays */
$a = array();
$a[0][0] = "a";
$a[0][1] = "b";
$a[1][0] = "y";
$a[1][1] = "z";
foreach ($a as $v1) {
foreach ($v1 as $v2) {
echo "$v2\n";
}
}
/* foreach example 5: dynamic arrays */
foreach (array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) as $v) {
echo "$v\n";
}
?>
(PHP 5 >= 5.5.0, PHP 7)
PHP 5.5 added the ability to iterate over an array of arrays and unpack the nested array into loop variables by providing a list() as the value.
For example:
<?php
$array = [
[1, 2],
[3, 4],
];
foreach ($array as list($a, $b)) {
// $a contains the first element of the nested array,
// and $b contains the second element.
echo "A: $a; B: $b\n";
}
?>
The above example will output:
A: 1; B: 2 A: 3; B: 4
You can provide fewer elements in the list() than there are in the nested array, in which case the leftover array values will be ignored:
<?php
$array = [
[1, 2],
[3, 4],
];
foreach ($array as list($a)) {
// Note that there is no $b here.
echo "$a\n";
}
?>
The above example will output:
1 3
A notice will be generated if there aren't enough array elements to fill the list():
<?php
$array = [
[1, 2],
[3, 4],
];
foreach ($array as list($a, $b, $c)) {
echo "A: $a; B: $b; C: $c\n";
}
?>
The above example will output:
Notice: Undefined offset: 2 in example.php on line 7 A: 1; B: 2; C: Notice: Undefined offset: 2 in example.php on line 7 A: 3; B: 4; C:
You can also use the alternative syntax for the foreach cycle:
<?php
foreach($array as $element):
#do something
endforeach;
?>
Just thought it worth mentioning.
"Reference of a $value and the last array element remain even after the foreach loop. It is recommended to destroy it by unset()."
I cannot stress this point of the documentation enough! Here is a simple example of exactly why this must be done:
<?php
$arr1 = array("a" => 1, "b" => 2, "c" => 3);
$arr2 = array("x" => 4, "y" => 5, "z" => 6);
foreach ($arr1 as $key => &$val) {}
foreach ($arr2 as $key => $val) {}
var_dump($arr1);
var_dump($arr2);
?>
The output is:
array(3) { ["a"]=> int(1) ["b"]=> int(2) ["c"]=> &int(6) }
array(3) { ["x"]=> int(4) ["y"]=> int(5) ["z"]=> int(6) }
Notice how the last index in $arr1 is now the value from the last index in $arr2!
foreach and the while/list/each methods are not completely identical, and there are occasions where one way is beneficial over the other.
<?php
$arr = array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9);
foreach($arr as $key=>$value)
{
unset($arr[$key + 1]);
echo $value . PHP_EOL;
}
?>
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
<?php
$arr = array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9);
while (list($key, $value) = each($arr))
{
unset($arr[$key + 1]);
echo $value . PHP_EOL;
}
?>
Output:
1 3 5 7 9
[EDIT BY danbrown AT php DOT net: Contains a typofix by (scissor AT phplabs DOT pl) on 30-JAN-2009.]
If you want to use the list for multidimension arrays, you can nest several lists:
<?php
$array = [
[1, 2, array(3, 4)],
[3, 4, array(5, 6)],
];
foreach ($array as list($a, $b, list($c, $d))) {
echo "A: $a; B: $b; C: $c; D: $d;<br>";
};
?>
Will output:
A: 1; B: 2; C: 3; D: 4;
A: 3; B: 4; C: 5; D: 6;
And:
<?php
$array = [
[1, 2, array(3, array(4, 5))],
[3, 4, array(5, array(6, 7))],
];
foreach ($array as list($a, $b, list($c, list($d, $e)))) {
echo "A: $a; B: $b; C: $c; D: $d; E: $e;<br>";
};
Will output:
A: 1; B: 2; C: 3; D: 4; E: 5;
A: 3; B: 4; C: 5; D: 6; E: 7;
?>
What happened to this note:
"Unless the array is referenced, foreach operates on a copy of the specified array and not the array itself. foreach has some side effects on the array pointer. Don't rely on the array pointer during or after the foreach without resetting it."
Is this no longer the case?
It seems only to remain in the Serbian documentation: http://php.net/manual/sr/control-structures.foreach.php
For those who'd like to traverse an array including just added elements (within this very foreach), here's a workaround:
<?php
$values = array(1 => 'a', 2 => 'b', 3 => 'c');
while (list($key, $value) = each($values)) {
echo "$key => $value \r\n";
if ($key == 3) {
$values[4] = 'd';
}
if ($key == 4) {
$values[5] = 'e';
}
}
?>
the code above will output:
1 => a
2 => b
3 => c
4 => d
5 => e
String keys of associative arrays, for which is_numeric() is true and which can be type-juggled to an int will be cast to an int! If the key is on the other hand a string that can be type-juggled into a float, it will stay a string. (Observed on PHP 7.0.0RC8)
<?php
$arr = array();
$arr[0] = "zero"; // will stay an int
$arr["1"] = "one"; // will be cast to an int !
$arr["two"] = "2"; // will stay a string
$arr["3.5"] = "threeandahalf"; // will stay a string
foreach($arr as $key => $value) {
var_dump($key);
}
?>
The output will be
int(0)
int(1)
string(3) "two"
string(3) "3.5"
foreach by reference internally deleted and created a new reference in each iteration, so it is not possible to directly use this value as a variable parameter values, look at the following example where the problem is observed and a possible solution:
<?php
class test
{
private $a = false;
private $r = null;
public function show(&$v)
{
if(!$this->a)
{
$this->a = true;
$this->r = &$v;
}
var_dump($this->r);
}
public function reset()
{
$this->a = false;
}
}
$t = new test();
$a = array(array(1,2),array(3,4),array(5,6));
foreach($a as &$p)
$t->show($p);
/* Output obtain:
array (size=2)
0 => int 1
1 => int 2
array (size=2)
0 => int 1
1 => int 2
array (size=2)
0 => int 1
1 => int 2
*/
$t->reset();
foreach($a as $p)
{
$b = &$p;
$t->show($b);
}
/* Output obtain:
array (size=2)
0 => int 1
1 => int 2
array (size=2)
0 => int 3
1 => int 4
array (size=2)
0 => int 5
1 => int 6
*/
References created by foreach hang around past their best-used-by date. For example, the following:
<?php
$a = array('abe','ben','cam');
foreach ($a as $k=>&$n)
$n = strtoupper($n);
foreach ($a as $k=>$n) // notice NO reference here!
echo "$n\n";
print_r($a);
?>
will result in:
ABE
BEN
BEN
Array
(
[0] => ABE
[1] => BEN
[2] => BEN
)
modifying array while foreach'ing it(yeah, such slime code;-)
if elements were added on last iteration or into array with 1 element, then added elements wont be iterated as foreach checks for pointer before iteration cycle
so it just quit and added elements wont be treated
Just a simple strange behavior I have ran into:
If you accidentally put a semicolon after the foreach statement, you get no errors, but the loop will only run on the last element of the array:
<?php
$array = array(1,2,3);
foreach ($array as $key);
{
echo $key;
}
// output: 3
?>
Correctly:
<?php
$array = array(1,2,3);
foreach ($array as $key)
{
echo $key;
}
// output: 123
?>
It took me a while to find that semicolon.
<?php
$d3 = array('a'=>array('b'=>'c'));
foreach($d3['a'] as &$v4){}
foreach($d3 as $v4){}
var_dump($d3);
?>
will get something look like this:
array(1) {
["a"]=>
array(1) {
["b"]=>
&array(1) {
["b"]=>
*RECURSION*
}
}
}
then you try to walk some data with this array.
the script run out of memory and connect reset by peer
the document says:
Warning
Reference of a $value and the last array element remain even after the foreach loop. It is recommended to destroy it by unset().
so what I learn is that NEVER ignore """Warning""" in document....
This function find well the words, add well adds a () around short words, but the
array at the end of th function is the same as at the beginning.
<?php
function isole_mots($chaine)
{
$chaine = "le petit chat est fou";
$mots = preg_split('/[!,-.;?:()[ ]/', $chaine, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
foreach ($mots as $mot)
{
if (strlen($mot) <= 3)
$mot = "(".$mot.")";
print " inside foreach $mot <br>";
}
print "after foreach array mots";
print_r($mots);
die();
return $mots;
}
?>
inside foreach (le)
inside foreach petit
inside foreach chat
inside foreach (est)
inside foreach (fou)
after foreach array motsArray ( [0] => le [1] => petit [2] => chat [3] => est [4] => fou )
I want to add some inline comments to dtowell's piece of code about the iteration by reference:
<?php
$a = array('abe','ben','cam');
foreach ($a as $k=>&$n)
$n = strtoupper($n);
# At the end of this cycle the variable $n refers to the same memory as $a[2]
# So when the second "foreach" assigns a value to $n :
foreach ($a as $k=>$n) // notice NO reference here!
echo "$n\n";
# it is also modifying $a[2] .
# So on the three repetitions of the second "foreach" the array will look like:
# 1. ('abe','ben','abe') - assigned the value of the first element to the last element
# 2. ('abe','ben','ben') - assigned the value of the second element to the last element
# 3. ('abe','ben','ben') - assigned the value of the third element to itself
print_r($a);
?>
Not sure if this is considered a bug
<?php
$array = ['numbers' => [1, 2, 3]];
foreach ($array as &$numbers) {
$numbers = [4, 5, 6];
}
var_dump($array);
modify_array($array);
var_dump($array);
function modify_array($array_arg)
{
$array_arg['numbers'] = [1, 2, 3];
}
Prints
array(1) {
["numbers"]=>
&array(3) {
[0]=>
int(4)
[1]=>
int(5)
[2]=>
int(6)
}
}
array(1) {
["numbers"]=>
&array(3) {
[0]=>
int(1)
[1]=>
int(2)
[2]=>
int(3)
}
}
?>
Notice that $array was not passed by reference to modify_array() however the nested array was modified. It sounds logical but not sure if this is documented!
"In order to be able to directly modify array elements within the loop precede $value with &. In that case the value will be assigned by reference. "
PLEASE CLARIFY! -Does this still hold true in php5.4+, where explicit passing by reference is seemingly forbidden- or is this now illegal syntax?
If you wondered how to create a list of all possible combinations of variable amount of arrays (multiple foreach), you might use this:
<?php
$a[0] = array('a1','a2');
$a[1] = array('b1','b2','b3');
$a[2] = array('c1','c2');
function getAllCombinations($a,$i,$s)
{
foreach ($a[$i] as $v)
{
if (!isset($a[$i+1]))
{
echo $s.$v."\n";
} else {
getAllCombinations($a,$i+1,$s.$v);
}
}
return $s;
}
echo getAllCombinations($a,0,'');
?>
the result:
a1b1c1
a1b1c2
a1b2c1
a1b2c2
a1b3c1
a1b3c2
a2b1c1
a2b1c2
a2b2c1
a2b2c2
a2b3c1
a2b3c2
Note that prior to PHP 5.5 you will get a T_LIST parse error for:
<?php
foreach($list as list($a, $b)) {...
?>
You can even iterate through "dynamic" arrays that do not physically exist, but are objects that implement Iterator interface. They don't need to be stored in memory when foreach starts.
Consider the array that contains some values (I called it $allValues in the example below) and we want to have only some of them (eg. the ones that are dividable by 2). I create an object that would serve as dynamic array, that means it would "dynamically update" its values together with $allValues. The main advantage is that I store only one array, and it's the only array I serialize.
An object of MyIter class will not contain any values itself:
<?php
class MyIter implements Iterator { // you can implement ArrayAccess and Countable interfaces too, this will make class MyIter behave like a "real" array
private $position = 0; // an internal position of the current element
// please note that $position has nothing common with $allValues!
private function getTable(){ // prepare a temporary "static" table of all objects in the class
global $allValues;
$result=array(); // temporary variable
foreach($allValues as $obj){
if($obj % 2 == 0) // check if the value is even
$result[]=$obj; // if yes, I want it
}
return $result;
}
// the all below declared methods are public and belong to the Iterator interface
function rewind() { // a method to start iterating
$this->position = 0; // just move to the beginning
}
function current() { // retrieves the current element
$table=$this->getTable(); // let us prepare a table
return $table[$this->position]; // and return the current element
}
function key() { // retrieves the current element's key
return $this->position; // this is used by foreach(... as $key=>$value), not important here
}
function next() { // move to next element
++$this->position;
}
function valid() { // check if the current element is valid (ie. if it exists)
return array_key_exists($this->position, $this->getTable());
}
} // end of class
// now prepare the array of 12 elements
$allValues=array(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11);
//we would like to have a dynamic array of all even values
$iterator=new MyIter();
foreach($iterator as $value){
echo $value."<br />";
}
?>
This will result in:
0
2
4
6
8
10
(You may also like to see what var_dump($iterator) produces).
Another great advantage is that you can modify the main table "on-the-fly" and it has its impact. Let us modify the last foreach loop:
<?php
// ...all above shall stay as it was
foreach($iterator as $value){
echo $value."<br />";
if($value==6){
$allValues=array(2,3);
echo "I modified source array!<br />";
}
}
?>
This produces now:
0
2
4
6
I modified source array!
However, if you feel it is rather a catastrophic disadvantage (maybe for example, it shows the values 0, 4, and 6 which were removed when we reached 6), and wish to have a "static" array that will iterate even in modified objects, just call getTable() in rewind() method and save it in temporary (private perhaps) field. In my example getTable() is called every iteration, and it calls another foreach through $allValues, which together might be time-consuming. Consider what you need.
"As of PHP 5, you can easily modify array's elements by preceding $value with &. This will assign reference instead of copying the value."
There are cases where array_walk or array_map are inadequate (conditional required) or you're just too lazy to write a function and pass values to it for use with array_map...
My solution to foreach for php 4 and 5 to modify values of an array directly:
<?php
$testarr = array("a" => 1, "b" => 2, "c" => 3, "d" => 4);
$testarr_keys = array_keys($testarr);
$testarr_values = array_values($testarr);
for ($i = 0; $i <= count($testarr) - 1; $i++) {
$testarr[$testarr_keys[$i]] = $testarr_values[$i] * 2;
}
print_r($testarr);
?>
@tedivm at tedivm dot com
With foreach you can specify the & for $value. In this case you modify the original array. Otherwise you operate on a "copy" (not on the original array).
Consider the following example, that is identical with yours, except i use the & for $value:
$arr = array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9);
foreach($arr as $key=>&$value)
{
unset($arr[$key + 1]);
echo "\n\n--------\nKey: $key\nValue: $value\n";
var_dump($arr);
echo "--------";
}
echo "\n\nARR at the end:\n";
var_dump($arr);
In foreach it prints the following values:
1, 3, 5, 7, 9
And you can see, that in the loop the corresponding elements are removed from arr.
So at the end you'll have an array, that contains only 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.
This is a decent, simple, and easy way to reference other values of an associative array when using foreach. (effective "next", "prev", etc.)
The only care that needs to be taken is if the array is HUGE in size, so you don't run into memory use problems. (and potential speed issues)
This example uses the 'primary' array, $aPublishSeq, which is ksort-ed to put the array in order according to the associative keys. The array is then copied using a foreach loop to make a duplicate array where the key and value order correspond to the first array, but the keys are sequential numeric starting at zero.
ksort ($aPublishSeq, SORT_STRING); // put them all in the right order keeping array keys
foreach ($aPublishSeq as $aValue)
$aPublishIdx[] = $aValue; // duplicate array using corresponding sequential numeric keys
Now, in the usage foreach loop, an index variable is used to keep in sync with the associative array.
$PubIdx = -1; // start at -1 to start at 0 below
foreach ($aPublishSeq as $sKey => $sValue) {
++$PubIdx; // index into $aPublishIdx array of corresponding element in $aPublishSeq array (for "next" element check, etc.)
echo $aPublishIdx[$PubIdx - 1] // previous array value
echo $aPublishIdx[$PubIdx] // current array value
echo $aPublishIdx[$PubIdx + 1] // next array value
....
It's simple, but it works, and without much muss or fuss.
[Ed Note: You can also use array_keys() so that you don't have to have the $value_copy variable --alindeman at php.net]
I use the following to modify the original values of the array:
<?php
foreach ($array as $key=>$value_copy)
{
$value =& $array[$key];
// ...
$value = 'New Value';
}
?>
// value değeri çevrilmemiş türkçeye Bu yüzden hata veriyor.
<?php
$dizi = array(1, 2, 3, 4);
foreach ($dizi as &$değer) {
$değer= $değer * 2;
}
// $dizi artık array(2, 4, 6, 8) olmuştur
unset($değer); // son eleman da işlendiğine göre gönderimi kaldıralım
?>