Array_column with index instead of associative key

Question

How exactly can I apply array_column always getting the first column of an array instead of getting the column by name? This is:

array_column($array,[0])

instead of

array_column($array,"key");

Does not work for me. It seams array_column is hungry for and index name. — Viktor Joras, Aug 14 '18 at 08:30

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

5

Try

array_column($array, array_shift(array_keys($array)));

from Return first key of associative array in PHP

Hope can help! :)

edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

Community

1
1

answered Dec 09 '15 at 20:11

Rafael Basso

112
5

Does not work for me. It seams array_column is hungry for and index name. – Viktor Joras Aug 14 '18 at 08:30

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 09 '15 at 20:11

2

You can't do this with the array_column function, unless you know for certain what the key is for first element of each array is going to be ahead of time.

You'll need to do this with a foreach() and use reset() to get the first elements.

answered Dec 09 '15 at 20:11

Ian

22,326
22
55
96

`foreach` is the only solution for this particular problem. – Viktor Joras Aug 14 '18 at 08:31

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 13 '18 at 14:46

While array_column() will allow you to target a column using an integer, it needs to be an existing integer key. Otherwise, you will need to determine the first subarray's first key to gain access to that column dynamically.

Code: (Demo)

$array = [
    ["foo" => "bar1", "hey" => "now"],
    ["foo" => "bar2", "hey" => "what"],
    [0 => "zero", 1 => "one"]
];

var_export(array_column($array, 'foo'));  // get the column by name
echo "\n---\n";
var_export(array_column($array, 0));  // don't need to be a string
echo "\n---\n";
var_export(array_column($array, key(current($array))));  // access the first subarray, access its key
echo "\n---\n";
var_export(array_column($array, array_shift(array_keys($array))));  // this generates a Notice, and damages the array

Output:

array (
  0 => 'bar1',
  1 => 'bar2',
)
---
array (
  0 => 'zero',
)
---
array (
  0 => 'bar1',
  1 => 'bar2',
)
---

Notice: Only variables should be passed by reference in /in/hH79U on line 14
array (
  0 => 'zero',
)

Array_column with index instead of associative key

3 Answers3