PHP one array with and without explicit keys

Question

I'm trying to figure out a better/cleaner way to have something like this in PHP:

// This will be parsed as the only argument in a function...
$params = array('Name', 'Age', 'Mail' => '[email protected]');

"Name" and "Age" are values with automatic keys (0 and 1, eg.), and "Mail" is a key with "[email protected]" value:

[0] => 'Name',
[1] => 'Age',
['Mail'] => '[email protected]'

When running through it in a foreach loop, to have "Name" and "Age" as the actual parameters I'm using this:

foreach ($params as $k => $i) {

    // This is the ugly part!
    if (is_int($k)) {
        $k = $i;
        $i = false;
    }

    // To do something like this, for example...
    $out = "";
    if ($i) {
        $out .= "<p><a href=\"mailto:$i\">$k</a></p>\n";
    } else {
        $out .= "<p>$k<p>\n";
    }

}

That will return something like this:

<p>Name</p>
<p>Age</p>
<p><a href="mailto:[email protected]">Mail</a></p>

Is there a better way to do it?

Thanks in advance.

Edit #1: Elaborating the question: is there a clean PHP way to distinguish elements that have explicitly informed keys from the ones that have not in the same array?

re Edit#1 No, there is not. php arrays are nice and all, but they are not a substitute for your own classes. — Steve
– Steve, Commented Jul 31, 2014 at 16:19
Sure enough. And we ask to avoid reinvent the wheel. Anyway, I found another approach even more cleaner, IMO, using "func_get_args()", which I'll share here after my 8 hours to answer my own question. — Blau
– Blau, Commented Jul 31, 2014 at 16:32

cootje · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-31 13:13:37Z

1

You are right about the ugly part. It should be better when you use keys for all elements, and decide on the key name whether of not to use the mail link:

$params = array('name'=>'Name', 'age'=>'Age', 'mail'=>'[email protected]');
foreach ($params as $k => $i) {
    $out .= ($k == 'mail') ? '<a href=\"mailto:$i\">$k</a>' : $k;
}

answered Jul 31, 2014 at 13:13

cootje

4701 gold badge5 silver badges12 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Steve · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-31 13:08:09Z

0

Why not just give name and age a key?

Or better yet, if you know that the params array will always be in this format, ditch the loop all together:

echo '<p>'.$params[0].'</p>';
echo '<p>'.$params[1].'</p>';
echo '<p><a href="mailto:'.$params['Mail'].'">Mail</a></p>;

answered Jul 31, 2014 at 13:08

Steve

20.5k5 gold badges47 silver badges71 bronze badges

3 Comments

Blau Over a year ago

It's not the case, because the argument will not always be in this format. You could think in a general function to create table rows, for example. In that case, some "td" tags could have parameters and others not. However I could use explicit keys in the array parameter, I don't really want do it that way, I want a method that automatically detects if the value has parameters or not, and my "ugly solution" allows me that (kind of).

Steve Over a year ago

@Blau Ok, well user3825614 's solution is a slightly neater version of your function, but i feel that there is probably more to this. I mean, will an element with a string key always be an email? If not then there is going to be even more logic to determine the output. If you elaborate there could be a nice solution

Blau Over a year ago

In the question, I split the code in 2 stages to make it more easy to understand, but the user3825614 solution is how I'm doing. That works, but if the value also were an integer? Elaborating the question: is there a clean PHP way to distinguish elements that have explicitly informed keys from the ones that have not in the same array?

demongolem · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-31 13:29:51Z

0

if (!is_int($k)) {
   $out .= "<p><a href=\"mailto:$i\">$k</a></p>\n";
} else {
   $out .= "<p>$i<p>\n";
}

edited Jul 31, 2014 at 13:29

demongolem

9,76436 gold badges97 silver badges107 bronze badges

answered Jul 31, 2014 at 13:10

XandruDavid

3104 silver badges14 bronze badges

Comments

Blau · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-31 22:56:23Z

I found 2 solution for what I wanted:

1 - Sticking to the original approach, I could pass the arguments as follows:

my_function(['Name', 'Age', ['Mail' => '[email protected]']]);

or...

my_function(array('Name', 'Age', array('Mail' => '[email protected]')));

Using "is_array()" later on to distinguish the parameter's type:

if (is_array($i)) {
    $p = current($i);
    $c = key($i);
    $out .= "<p><a href=\"mailto:$p\">$c</a></p>\n";
} else {
    $out .= "<p>$i<p>\n";
}

2 - But, changing my original paradigm, I found another option to parse a undefined number of arguments: the function "func_get_args()". My function would be called like this:

my_function('Name', 'Age', ['Mail' => '[email protected]']);

or...

my_function('Name', 'Age', array('Mail' => '[email protected]'));

Here is an example to create table rows:

function add_table_row() {
    $args = func_get_args(); // returns an array of arguments...
    $o = "<tr>\n";
    foreach ($args as $value) {
        if (is_array($value)) {       // If the argument is an array...
            $cellcont = key($value);  // The contents is the key...
            $param = current($value); // And the parameter is the value...
            $o .= "<td $param>$cellcont</td>\n";
        } else {
            $o .= "<td>$value</td>\n";
        }
    }
    $o .= "</tr>\n";
    return $o;
}

Bottom line, both solutions uses "is_array" the same way, but the second one looks more clear, IMO.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP one array with and without explicit keys

4 Answers 4

Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related