PHP Array Search

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to work with PHP array search functions and methods like search array by PHP array_search() built-in function and PHP loops.

PHP array search content

• array_search() function
• array_keys() function
• array_key_exists() function
• in_array() function

PHP array_search() function

PHP array_search() function, searches the array for a given value. It returns the first corresponding key if the search was successful.

array_search(search_term, array, strict);

If there is more than one element that matches the search term, the first matching key is returned.

$cars = array(
    'fer' => 'Ferrari', 
    'ben' => 'Benz', 
    'bmw' => 'BMW', 
    'vol' => 'Volvo'
);

var_dump(array_search('Benz', $cars));

Output

ben

array_keys() function to search array in PHP

In PHP, the array_search() function returns the first key of the search_term if it is found. To return the keys for all matching values, use the array_keys() function with the optional search_term parameter instead.

array_keys(array, search_term);

$cars = array(
    'fer' => 'Ferrari', 
    'ben' => 'Benz', 
    'bmw' => 'BMW', 
    'ben2' => 'Benz'
);

var_dump(array_keys($cars, 'Benz'));

Output

array (size=2)
  0 => string 'ben' (length=3)
  1 => string 'ben2' (length=4)

array_key_exists() function

array_key_exists() is a built-in PHP function to check if the given key exists in the array or not. This function returns “true” if the given key is set in the array.

$cars = array(
    'fer' => 'Ferrari', 
    'ben' => 'Benz', 
    'bmw' => 'BMW', 
    'vol' => 'Volvo'
);

var_dump(array_key_exists('ben', $cars));

Output

true

in_array() function

PHP in_array() function checks if a value exists in an array or not.

$cars = array(
    'fer' => 'Ferrari', 
    'ben' => 'Benz', 
    'bmw' => 'BMW', 
    'vol' => 'Volvo'
);

var_dump(in_array('Benz', $cars));

Output

true

More

• PHP Arrays