PHP - Get array value with a numeric index

Question

I have an array like:

$array = array('foo' => 'bar', 33 => 'bin', 'lorem' => 'ipsum');
echo native_function($array, 0); // bar
echo native_function($array, 1); // bin
echo native_function($array, 2); // ipsum

So, this native function would return a value based on a numeric index (second arg), ignoring assoc keys, looking for the real position in array.

Are there any native function to do that in PHP or should I write it? Thanks

Answer 1

$array = array('foo' => 'bar', 33 => 'bin', 'lorem' => 'ipsum');
$array = array_values($array);
echo $array[0]; //bar
echo $array[1]; //bin
echo $array[2]; //ipsum

Answer 2

array_values() will do pretty much what you want:

$numeric_indexed_array = array_values($your_array);
// $numeric_indexed_array = array('bar', 'bin', 'ipsum');
print($numeric_indexed_array[0]); // bar

Answer 3

I am proposing my idea about it against any disadvantages array_values( ) function, because I think that is not a direct get function. In this way it have to create a copy of the values numerically indexed array and then access. If PHP does not hide a method that automatically translates an integer in the position of the desired element, maybe a slightly better solution might consist of a function that runs the array with a counter until it leads to the desired position, then return the element reached.

So the work would be optimized for very large array of sizes, since the algorithm would be best performing indices for small, stopping immediately. In the solution highlighted of array_values( ), however, it has to do with a cycle flowing through the whole array, even if, for e.g., I have to access $ array [1].

function array_get_by_index($index, $array) {

    $i=0;
    foreach ($array as $value) {
        if($i==$index) {
            return $value;
        }
        $i++;
    }
    // may be $index exceedes size of $array. In this case NULL is returned.
    return NULL;
}

Answer 4

Yes, for scalar values, a combination of implode and array_slice will do:

$bar = implode(array_slice($array, 0, 1));
$bin = implode(array_slice($array, 1, 1));
$ipsum = implode(array_slice($array, 2, 1));

Or mix it up with array_values and list (thanks @nikic) so that it works with all types of values:

list($bar) = array_values(array_slice($array, 0, 1));