"array_key_exists()" not working properly

Question

Code

$descriptionArr = array( "uk/page"=>"", "uk/page-two"=>"description of page 2");

function getDescription($uri){
    if (array_key_exists($uri, $descriptionArr)) {
      return $descriptionArr[$uri];
    } else {
      return false;
    }
}

Situation

When i call the function with argument "uk/page-two" it returns the description
When I call the function with argument "uk/page" it returns false instead of the empty string

Issue

I would like it to return the empty string and only return false when the argument passed does not exist as key in the array.

Did you try making the value 'NULL' instead of empty string? — Noman Ghani, Apr 17 '14 at 07:32

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 17 '14 at 07:43

2

This should work:

$descriptionArr = array( "uk/page"=>"", "uk/page-two"=>"description of page 2");

function getDescription($uri, $descriptionArr){
    if (false !== array_key_exists($uri, $descriptionArr)) {
      return $descriptionArr[$uri];
    } else {
      return false;
    }
}

answered Apr 17 '14 at 07:43

ek9

3,392
5
23
34

This wouldn't, because `$descriptionArr` is not available inside the function. – Amal Murali Apr 17 '14 at 07:45
It works, I do have the array within the function, so that isn't the issue. Can someone explain what the `false !== array_key_...` does exactly? – skrln Apr 17 '14 at 07:49
the `===` (and `!==`) disallow type conversion. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/589549/php-vs-operator – ek9 Apr 17 '14 at 07:52
The function already returns a Boolean, so the explicit !== is redundant. – Ja͢ck Apr 18 '14 at 02:52

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 17 '14 at 07:33

0

You can change your function to the following:

function getDescription($uri) {
    if (isset($descriptionArr[$uri])) {
      return $descriptionArr[$uri];
    } else {
      return false;
    }
}

answered Apr 17 '14 at 07:33

Go0se

98
1
8

"array_key_exists()" not working properly

Code

Situation

Issue

2 Answers2