Check value is in array of objects in PHP

Question

I have a function that is checking a value submitted by the user against a list of winning entries for a competition.

Currently if the user enters "1234" it's returning false, even though the value is there, but if a user enters "5678" it returns true and sends back all the data associated with that entry.

Can anybody point out why it's only finding the last value in the array true? I've tried a few different approaches, but nothing is working!

$entries = array(
  (object) [
    "uid" => "1234",
    "item" => "x",
    "text_prefix" => "x",
    "text_suffix" => "x",
    "prize_link" => "x",
    "data_captcher" => true
  ],
  (object) [
    "uid" => "5678",
    "item" => "x",
    "text_prefix" => "x",
    "text_suffix" => "x",
    "prize_link" => "x",
    "data_captcher" => false
    ],
);

// $data = json_encode($entries);
// echo $data;

if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {

  $code = isset($_POST['code']) ? $_POST['code'] : '';

  var_dump($code);

  // foreach ($entries as $entry => $entry_Value) {
  for ($x = 0; $x < count($entries); $x++) {
    // var_dump($entry->uid);

    if ($entries[$x]->uid == $code) {
      $value = [
        "uid" => $entries[$x]->uid,
        "item" => $entries[$x]->item,
        "text_prefix" => $entries[$x]->text_prefix,
        "text_suffix" => $entries[$x]->text_suffix,
        "prize_link" => $entries[$x]->prize_link,
        "data_captcher" => $entries[$x]->data_captcher,
      ];
    }else {
      $value = 'false';
    }

    // var_dump($entries[$x]);
  }

  $data = json_encode($value);
  echo $data;

}

guyaloni · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-25 15:19:40Z

2

It is very simple, you miss a stop condition.
Your loop iterates all entries, so the last entry will determine whether value is false or not.

What you should do is add break in your if condition:

if ($entries[$x]->uid == $code) {
  $value = [
    "uid" => $entries[$x]->uid,
    "item" => $entries[$x]->item,
    "text_prefix" => $entries[$x]->text_prefix,
    "text_suffix" => $entries[$x]->text_suffix,
    "prize_link" => $entries[$x]->prize_link,
    "data_captcher" => $entries[$x]->data_captcher,
  ];

  break;  // <== this will stop the "for" loop
}else {
  $value = 'false';
}

By the way, in your case I would use foreach loop for readability reasons:

foreach ($entries as $entry) {
   :
   :
}

answered Nov 25, 2021 at 15:19

guyaloni

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1 Comment

moody1208 Over a year ago

Yeah a break was needed! I'n my head I thought i'd added one.... it's been a long day! Thanks for spotting it.

RiggsFolly · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-25 15:25:21Z

You are just not stopping when you find the match. And the next iteration is a non-match so you end up returning a false. You need to stop looping when you find a match, you can stop a loop with a break;

Also the foreach is a simpler loop than a for

Also you do not need to do all those assignments when you find the right object, just do a $value = $entry_obj; and its all done.

$entries = array(
    (object) [
      "uid" => "1234",
      "item" => "x",
      "text_prefix" => "x",
      "text_suffix" => "x",
      "prize_link" => "x",
      "data_captcher" => true
    ],
    (object) [
      "uid" => "5678",
      "item" => "x",
      "text_prefix" => "x",
      "text_suffix" => "x",
      "prize_link" => "x",
      "data_captcher" => false
      ],
);

$data = json_encode($entries);

$_POST['code'] = '1234';
$code = isset($_POST['code']) ? $_POST['code'] : '';
  
var_dump($code);
  
foreach ($entries as $entry_obj) {
    if ($entry_obj->uid == $code) {
        $value = $entry_obj;
        break;  // found it so stop otherwise we dont find it on next iteration
    }else {
        $value = 'false';
    }
}
  
$data = json_encode($value);
echo $data;

RESULT

{
    "uid":"1234",
    "item":"x",
    "text_prefix":"x",
    "text_suffix":"x",
    "prize_link":"x",
    "data_captcher":true
}

mark_b · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-25 15:30:03Z

0

For a simpler solution you can use a combination of array_column and the null coalescing operator.

// First re-key the array so that uid is the key
$entries = array_column($entries, null, 'uid');

// Then you can check if the array key exists directly, and assign a default value if not
$value = $entries[$code] ?? 'false';

answered Nov 25, 2021 at 15:30

mark_b

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