Finding Array/Object sequence in php

Question

I have the following array as input:

$test = array(
            array(
                'cat','d'=>'fox',
            ),
            'x' => array(
                'y'=> array('fox'),
            ),
        );

I need to find the sequence to the value "fox" in this array. Is there any function that would generate the sequence if given array as an input. ie. the output should be in the following format

$test[0]['d']
$test['x']['y'][0]

Have you tried writing your own recursive function that does this? — Peon
– Peon, Commented Jan 27, 2014 at 15:19
What have you tried? All I see is an array with a standard method to obtain the sequence, no user created function — Daryl Gill
– Daryl Gill, Commented Jan 27, 2014 at 15:19
I'm just searching whether there is any php functions that would enable me to generate the sequence. ie. we have print_r to display the entire array. I thought maybe a similar function might be present — Ashok Gj
– Ashok Gj, Commented Jan 27, 2014 at 15:22
I think as of now, there is no library functions in php that gives exact sequence of array, although such functions are really useful for developers — Ganesh Babu
– Ganesh Babu, Commented Jan 27, 2014 at 15:26

hek2mgl · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-27 15:54:10Z

After reading the comments, the answer is simple. You just asking if there is any built in PHP function which does this task.

Answer: No there is no built-in function for that, you have write your own. It should lead to an recursive algorithm. (or even iterative, as recursion can always be replaced by iteration).

Here comes a function which will do the job. Note that I've replaced recursion by iteration, in order to tweak the algorithm:

$a = array(
    array(
        'cat','d'=>'fox',
    ),
    'x' => array(
        'y'=> array('fox'),
    ),
);

function pathto($value, $array) {
    // init stack
    $stack = array(array($array, 'array'));
    do {
        // get first value from stack
        list ($current_value, $current_path) = array_shift($stack);

        // if current is a scalar value then compare to the input
        if($current_value === $value) {
            echo $current_path . PHP_EOL;
            continue;
        }

        // push array childs to stack
        if(is_array($current_value)) {
            foreach($current_value as $k => $v) {
                $k = is_string($k) ? "'$k'" : $k; 
                // push child and path to file
                array_push($stack, array (
                    $v, $current_path . '[' . $k . ']' 
                )); 
            }   
        }   
    } while (!empty($stack));
}

pathto('fox', $a);

Output:

$test[0]['d']
$test['x']['y'][0]

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