PHP Remove elements from associative array

Question

I have an PHP array that looks something like this:

Index              Key     Value
[0]                1       Awaiting for Confirmation
[1]                2       Assigned
[2]                3       In Progress
[3]                4       Completed
[4]                5       Mark As Spam

When I var_dump the array values i get this:

array(5) { [0]=> array(2) { ["key"]=> string(1) "1" ["value"]=> string(25) "Awaiting for Confirmation" } [1]=> array(2) { ["key"]=> string(1) "2" ["value"]=> string(9) "Assigned" } [2]=> array(2) { ["key"]=> string(1) "3" ["value"]=> string(11) "In Progress" } [3]=> array(2) { ["key"]=> string(1) "4" ["value"]=> string(9) "Completed" } [4]=> array(2) { ["key"]=> string(1) "5" ["value"]=> string(12) "Mark As Spam" } }

I wanted to remove Completed and Mark As Spam. I know I can unset[$array[3],$array[4]), but the problem is that sometimes the index number can be different.

Is there a way to remove them by matching the value name instead of the key value?

not sure whether I understand the question at hand here? What do you mean sometimes the index number can be different? — Simon H
– Simon H, Commented Mar 27, 2011 at 15:20

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-17 19:42:58Z

Your array is quite strange : why not just use the key as index, and the value as... the value ?

Wouldn't it be a lot easier if your array was declared like this :

$array = array(
    1 => 'Awaiting for Confirmation', 
    2 => 'Asssigned', 
    3 => 'In Progress', 
    4 => 'Completed', 
    5 => 'Mark As Spam', 
);

That would allow you to use your values of key as indexes to access the array...

And you'd be able to use functions to search on the values, such as array_search() :

$indexCompleted = array_search('Completed', $array);
unset($array[$indexCompleted]);

$indexSpam = array_search('Mark As Spam', $array);
unset($array[$indexSpam]);

var_dump($array);

Easier than with your array, no ?

Instead, with your array that looks like this :

$array = array(
    array('key' => 1, 'value' => 'Awaiting for Confirmation'), 
    array('key' => 2, 'value' => 'Asssigned'), 
    array('key' => 3, 'value' => 'In Progress'), 
    array('key' => 4, 'value' => 'Completed'), 
    array('key' => 5, 'value' => 'Mark As Spam'), 
);

You'll have to loop over all items, to analyse the value, and unset the right items :

foreach ($array as $index => $data) {
    if ($data['value'] == 'Completed' || $data['value'] == 'Mark As Spam') {
        unset($array[$index]);
    }
}
var_dump($array);

Even if do-able, it's not that simple... and I insist : can you not change the format of your array, to work with a simpler key/value system ?

"You'll have to loop over all items, to analyse the value". When you're using array_search you might also search through all items.

ADFS · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-23 01:10:47Z

95

  ...

  $array = array(
      1 => 'Awaiting for Confirmation', 
      2 => 'Asssigned', 
      3 => 'In Progress', 
      4 => 'Completed', 
      5 => 'Mark As Spam', 
  );



  return array_values($array);
  ...

answered Jun 23, 2012 at 1:10

ADFS

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2 Comments

Faisal Mehmood Awan Over a year ago

nice and easy . just looking for this

A.Seddighi Over a year ago

This is the true answer, not that was checked.

Dejan Marjanović · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-27 15:29:17Z

16

$key = array_search("Mark As Spam", $array);
unset($array[$key]);

For 2D arrays...

$remove = array("Mark As Spam", "Completed");
foreach($arrays as $array){
    foreach($array as $key => $value){
        if(in_array($value, $remove)) unset($array[$key]);
    }
}

edited Mar 27, 2011 at 15:29

answered Mar 27, 2011 at 15:19

Dejan Marjanović

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Comments

The Hungry Dictator · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-12 10:31:56Z

9

You can use this

unset($dataArray['key']);

edited Sep 12, 2017 at 10:31

The Hungry Dictator

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answered Sep 12, 2017 at 7:01

Anirban Das

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Comments

Mikel Anniuk · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-13 17:43:57Z

3

Why do not use array_diff?

$array = array(
    1 => 'Awaiting for Confirmation', 
    2 => 'Asssigned', 
    3 => 'In Progress', 
    4 => 'Completed', 
    5 => 'Mark As Spam', 
);
$to_delete = array('Completed', 'Mark As Spam');
$array = array_diff($array, $to_delete);

Just note that your array would be reindexed.

answered May 13, 2016 at 17:43

Mikel Anniuk

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Comments

Alp · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-27 15:21:27Z

1

Try this:

$keys = array_keys($array, "Completed");

/edit As mentioned by JohnP, this method only works for non-nested arrays.

answered Mar 27, 2011 at 15:21

Alp

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Comments

Roger Kaplan · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-30 17:59:20Z

I kinda disagree with the accepted answer. Sometimes an application architecture doesn't want you to mess with the array id, or makes it inconvenient. For instance, I use CakePHP quite a lot, and a database query returns the primary key as a value in each record, very similar to the above.

Assuming the array is not stupidly large, I would use array_filter. This will create a copy of the array, minus the records you want to remove, which you can assign back to the original array variable.

Although this may seem inefficient it's actually very much in vogue these days to have variables be immutable, and the fact that most php array functions return a new array rather than futzing with the original implies that PHP kinda wants you to do this too. And the more you work with arrays, and realize how difficult and annoying the unset() function is, this approach makes a lot of sense.

Anyway:

$my_array = array_filter($my_array, 
                         function($el) { 
                            return $el["value"]!="Completed" && $el!["value"]!="Marked as Spam"; 
                         });

You can use whatever inclusion logic (eg. your id field) in the embedded function that you want.

Chris Forrence · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-20 13:49:50Z

0

The way to do this to take your nested target array and copy it in single step to a non-nested array. Delete the key(s) and then assign the final trimmed array to the nested node of the earlier array. Here is a code to make it simple:

$temp_array = $list['resultset'][0];

unset($temp_array['badkey1']);
unset($temp_array['badkey2']);

$list['resultset'][0] = $temp_array;

edited Sep 20, 2013 at 13:49

Chris Forrence

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answered Sep 20, 2013 at 13:28

Nitish Pandey

1

Comments

Sherif · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-05 18:40:34Z

-1

for single array Item use reset($item)

edited Oct 5, 2016 at 18:40

Sherif

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answered Mar 16, 2014 at 9:57

Ivan Proskuryakov

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1 Comment

David Over a year ago

The reset function should be used to move the internal array pointer, not to remove items or unset items from an array. Use unset instead. If your solution even works, it also has unwanted side effects.

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