Check if array sub-keys have empty values

Question

I have an array that looks like this:

$arr = array(

  'abc' => array(
             'subkey1' => '',
             'subkey2' => false,             
             'subkey3' => 0,  
             ...                          
           ),

  'def' => array(
             'subkey1' => '',
             'subkey2' => 555,             
             'subkey3' => 0,  
             ...                          
           ),

  ...

);

I want to unset all parent elements in which ALL subkeys have empty values, like 0, '', false, null. In my example abc needs to be unset.

Currently I'm manually checking within a foreach loop if each subkey is empty, but the if condition is huge because I have 8 subkeys :)

Is there a nicer alternative for this?

What you are doing seems the right way, you could use recursion, but the condition will be as huge as well. — Nicolás Torres
– Nicolás Torres, Commented Jun 23, 2012 at 19:52

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-14 22:25:35Z

8

$array = array_filter($array, 'array_filter');

^{View the output on codepad}

Array
(
    [def] => Array
        (
            [subkey1] => 
            [subkey2] => 555
            [subkey3] => 0
        )

)

The outer array_filter() will loop over the array and call the inner array_filter() on each sub array, which will remove all subkeys which are empty. If each subkey is empty, the outer array_filter() should then remove the whole sub array.

If no callback is supplied, all entries of input equal to FALSE (see converting to boolean) will be removed.

edited Nov 14, 2023 at 22:25

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Jun 23, 2012 at 19:54

Jeroen

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7 Comments

Brad Christie Over a year ago

I was just about to post this. Also, whenever possible, I find it better to stick with built-in methods over custom ones.

goat Over a year ago

+1. only thing is this still removes the empty child entries of valid entries. You could use the keys from this result and combine with orig array if thats a prob.

Jeroen Over a year ago

Good point... but what do you mean by You could use ... with orig array?

goat Over a year ago

$final = array_intersect_key($origArray, array_filter($origArray, 'array_filter'))

Jeroen Over a year ago

It seems it isn't necessary, look at codepads output: codepad.org/bFe22vZj The empty subkeys of def are still there for some reason.

|

Ben · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-23 20:12:44Z

0

How about this:

foreach ($arr as $index=>$element)
{
  if (in_array(0, $element))
  {
    unset($arr[$index]);
  }
}

answered Jun 23, 2012 at 20:12

Ben

68.9k38 gold badges88 silver badges108 bronze badges

1 Comment

markus Over a year ago

How about an explanation about this? ;)

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