Access array by its numeric index

Question

I have this array

Array ( [name] => guardian [url] => http://www.guardian.co.uk )
Array ( [name] => cnn [url] => http://www.cnn.com )

which i am accessing like

$das_repeat = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'repeatable_fields', true);
    foreach ( $das_repeat as $fiel ) {
    echo $fiel['name'].'<br/>';
    //print_r($fiel);
    }

However, i am very interested in accessing each value by its numeric index.How can i reindex $fiel['name'] to allow me access each value by its index?.

use `$das_repeat=array_values($das_repeat);` then foreach or get values by numeric index — , Sep 02 '13 at 16:11
Do you have one array or multiple arrays? Or is it nested arrays and yo didn't show the outer level? — Barmar, Sep 02 '13 at 16:17

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 02 '13 at 16:11

Your array does not have numeric indices, it does not really make sense to access it by numeric indices. You can strip all the keys out and reindex the array numerically:

$reindexed = array_values($das_repeat);

However, again, it doesn't really make sense to do so. If you want to iterate over the array without knowing its keys, you're already doing that using foreach.

Vlad Preda · Answer 2 · 2013-09-02T16:18:03.600

To re-index an array you can use array_values.

$array = array(
    'name' => 'A name',
    'attr2' => 'Attr 2'
);
$array = array_values($array);
var_dump($array);

Result:

array
  0 => string 'A name' (length = 6)
  1 => string 'Attr 2' (length = 6)

Although, as @deceze pointed out, this has the potential to cause bugs and/or unexpected behavior in your code, so use wisely. For example, think about what will happen if, for some reason, the 1st post meta will be deleted. All the information you show will be wrong.

Note: Is not recursive

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 02 '13 at 16:11

0

foreach ( $das_repeat as $id => $fiel ) {
    echo $fiel['name'].'<br/>';
    //print_r($fiel);
    // $id not contains the index
    }

answered Sep 02 '13 at 16:11

exussum

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 02 '13 at 16:12

0

Use array_values.

foreach ( $das_repeat as $fiel ) {
    $field = array_values($fiel);
    echo $field[0]; //will output guardian and then cnn
}

answered Sep 02 '13 at 16:12

Ignas

1,965
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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 02 '13 at 16:15

As other answers say, you can use array_values to create a new array with the same values, but numeric indices. If you want to keep the associative array as it is, but also access it numerically, you could do this:

$keys = array_keys($das_repeat);
$elementN = $das_repeat[$keys[$N]];

Access array by its numeric index

5 Answers5