PHP - Get key of Associative Array

Question

I have an array

Array(
[32] => ki
[97] => Array
    (
        [0] => l$
        [1] => ml
        [2] => 8e
    )
[98] => fp
[99] => @w
[100] => lf 
)

if I do array search for example:

echo array_search("fp", $array);

the output will be "98". How can I get the key if im looking for a value inside another array like "ml"? I wanted to get "97" if i search for value "ml".

You would use a loop that would search each key for that value — Mohammad Ali, Feb 21 '17 at 02:35
Is that the last option? I mean, is there no any other functions that I can use? — Jhay, Feb 21 '17 at 02:39
well that's never been asked before in the history of the internet — , Feb 21 '17 at 02:40
Possible duplicate of [PHP multidimensional array search by value](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6661530/php-multidimensional-array-search-by-value) — Catalin Minovici, Feb 21 '17 at 02:43
"How can I get the KEY if im looking for a value inside another array like" oO — Eddy Unruh, Feb 21 '17 at 02:43
I wanted to get "97" if i search for "ml". Loop can make it but I am looking for other functions like array_search. — Jhay, Feb 21 '17 at 02:50
I just wanted to look for another solution. Anyway, thanks for your comments guys. :D — Jhay, Feb 21 '17 at 03:13

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 21 '17 at 03:09

I don't think there is such function for multi arrays

If you want to do it in a loop try:

foreach($array as $key => $value)
{
    if(is_array($value))
    {
        $subarray = $value;

        foreach($subarray as $subvalue)
        {
            if($subvalue == 'ml')
            {
                echo $key;
                break 2;
            }
        }
    }
    else
    {
        if($value == 'ml')
        {
            echo $key;
            break;
        }
    }
}

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 21 '17 at 03:17

You could write an alternate recursive array_search function like this:

function recursive_array_search($needle, $haystack, $parent_key = null) {
    foreach($haystack as $key => $value) {
        $current_key = $parent_key ? $parent_key : $key;
        if($needle === $value || (is_array($value) && recursive_array_search($needle, $value, $current_key) !== false)) {
            return $current_key;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

And call it like echo recursive_array_search("ml", $array);

Based on http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-search.php#91365

PHP - Get key of Associative Array

2 Answers2