Array items being echoed with no command in foreach loop

Question

I am working with a multidimensional array that will contain a variable number of empty objects inside of it. I've written a script to simply unset() the empty ones, and it works fine. However, even without an echo() function, the non-empty values are being printed when my loop is run, and I cannot seem to figure out why.

An example of an array that would use run through my loop:

Array
(
[0] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => <strong>Abdomen</strong><ul>
        [_issues] => <li><strong>Ascites</strong>: 1</li><li><strong>Blood Clot</strong>: 2</li>
    )

[1] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => <strong>Air Sac</strong><ul>
        [_issues] => <li><strong>Cloudy</strong>: 1</li>
    )

[2] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => <strong>Beak Treatment</strong><ul>
        [_issues] => <li><strong>Severe</strong>: 3</li>
    )

[3] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => 
        [_issues] => 
    )

[4] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => 
        [_issues] => 
    )

[5] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => <strong>Crop</strong><ul>
        [_issues] => <li><strong>Impacted</strong>: 2</li>
    )

[6] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => <strong>Feathering</strong><ul>
        [_issues] => <li><strong>Soiled</strong>: 1</li>
    )

[7] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => <strong>Feet</strong><ul>
        [_issues] => <li><strong>Swollen</strong>: 1</li>
    )

[8] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => 
        [_issues] => 
    )

[9] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => 
        [_issues] => 
    )

[10] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => <strong>Heart</strong><ul>
        [_issues] => <li><strong>Compromised</strong>: 1</li>
    )

[11] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => <strong>Hock</strong><ul>
        [_issues] => <li><strong>Clear Exudate</strong>: 2</li>
    )

[12] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => 
        [_issues] => 
    )

[13] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => 
        [_issues] => 
    )

[14] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => 
        [_issues] => 
    )

[15] => Group Object
    (
        [_title] => <strong>Kidney</strong><ul>
        [_issues] => <li><strong>Injured</strong>: 2</li>
    )

)

The foreach() loop that clears out the empty Objects inside of the array:

foreach ($issues as $key => $link) {
            if ($issues[$key] != '') {
        unset($issues[$key]);   
    }
  }

And finally, the output that is printed when the loop is run:

<strong>Abdomen</strong><ul>
    <li><strong>Ascites</strong>: 1</li>
    <li><strong>Blood Clot</strong>: 2</li>
<strong>Air Sac</strong><ul>
    <li><strong>Cloudy</strong>: 1</li>
<strong>Beak Treatment</strong><ul>
    <li><strong>Severe</strong>: 3</li>
<strong>Crop</strong><ul>
    <li><strong>Impacted</strong>: 2</li>
<strong>Feathering</strong><ul>
    <li><strong>Soiled</strong>: 1</li>
<strong>Feet</strong><ul>
    <li><strong>Swollen</strong>: 1</li>
<strong>Heart</strong><ul>
    <li><strong>Compromised</strong>: 1</li>
<strong>Hock</strong><ul>
    <li><strong>Clear Exudate</strong>: 2</li>
<strong>Kidney</strong><ul>
    <li><strong>Injured</strong>: 2</li>

Obviously I just want the empty groups removed and nothing to be printed. Any help is appreciated.

That means that you need to show us more code, with the code you provided, it's impossible that there would be an output ... — HamZa, Mar 30 '13 at 23:11

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

As was suggested here, you can use array_filter

class Foo {

    public $bar;

    public function __construct($arg)
    {
        $this->bar = $arg;
    }

    public function isEmpty()
    {
        if (is_string($this->bar) && !empty($this->bar))
        {
            return false;
        }

        return true;
    }

}

$array = array(
    new Foo(29),
    new Foo(''),
    new Foo('hello'),
    new Foo(null),
    new Foo('world'),
);

function obj_is_empty($obj)
{
    return ( ! $obj->isEmpty() );
}

print "<pre>";
var_dump(array_filter($array, "obj_is_empty"));

Works fine

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 30 '13 at 23:09

0

I might be wrong, but your array should have items surrounded by quotes:

    [_title] => "<strong>Abdomen</strong><ul>"

otherwise whatever coming is unpredictable.

answered Mar 30 '13 at 23:09

zipser

250
1
8

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 30 '13 at 23:12

0

You are checking against array keys (_title, _issues), not values (Abdomem, etc).

answered Mar 30 '13 at 23:12

enapupe

15,691
3
29
45

Array items being echoed with no command in foreach loop

3 Answers3