[RESOLVED] Looping through arrays

benbox

Hey all!

I've got a question about looping through arrays that aren't named sequentially.. for example, you can do this: -

<?php
$var[] = "a";
$var[] = "b";
$var[] = "c";
$var[] = "d";
$var[] = "e";
$var[] = "f";


for($k=0; $k<count($var); $k++) {
	echo $var[$k];
}

// outputs abcdef
?>

But how would you make sure you get every element, for example .. if you had this: -

<?php
$var[1] = "a";
$var[3] = "b";
$var[2] = "c";
$var[5] = "d";
$var[6] = "e";
$var[9] = "f";


for($k=0; $k<count($var); $k++) {
	echo $var[$k];
}

// outputs acbd
?>

Or, likewise, if the numbers in $var[NUMBER] were text, such as $var['name1'] $var['name2'], how can these be looped through?

Thanks very much in advance for any help! 😃

Installer

foreach

And its evil twin, while...each

benbox

Oh! I've never really understood why people used that sometimes, but of course.. makes sense now I've actually needed it myself..

Thanks 😃

Installer

Some of the benefits of foreach over for;
It ensures that all elements are covered.
It resets the array pointer to the first element (corollary to the first point, or vice-versa).
The array can be looped through without accidentally changing values, or values can be changed using reference or the individual keys.
It'll work with scalars, using type-casting (handy for writing flexible functions).
It's handier to use key and value names rather than array-name[index], imo.

benbox

I actually understand yout last point on that list, although I've always used for() in the past.. might have to start using this though!

Your first point is really important too, but I like being able to get the reference (as ref in $var[ref]) too, thats what I needed just.. never knew how to do it easily before.

Thanks for the info! 😃