Delete element from triply nested array PHP - php

Question

I am struggling to figure out how to remove elements from a triple nested array based on a value at the deepest level. I would like to remove any position sub-array where time == "NA". My array structure is as follows.
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[Id] => 151601
[First_Name] => JOHN
[Last_Name] => DOE
[Location_Id] => 10
[Positions] => Array
(
[North] => Array
(
[Current_Level] => 4
[Last_Date] => 11/7/2001
[Time] => 4:15 AM
)
[East] => Array
(
[Current_Level] => 4
[Last_Date] => 7/10/2003
[Time] => 7:30 PM
)
[South] => Array
(
[Current_Level] => 2
[Last_Date] => 8/10/2007
[Time] => NA
)
[West] => Array
(
[Current_Level] => NA
[Last_Date] => NA
[Time] => NA
)
)
)
So my end result would be
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[Id] => 151601
[First_Name] => JOHN
[Last_Name] => DOE
[Location_Id] => 10
[Positions] => Array
(
[North] => Array
(
[Current_Level] => 4
[Last_Date] => 11/7/2001
[Time] => 4:15 AM
)
[East] => Array
(
[Current_Level] => 4
[Last_Date] => 7/10/2003
[Time] => 7:30 PM
)
)
)
This is what I am currently trying but it is throwing an illegal offset type error. I think I'm just not unsetting the right thing. I can get it to echo all the correct subarrays but when I try to unset I get an offset error.
foreach($records as $record) {
foreach ($record as $value) {
if (is_array($value)) {
foreach ($value as $position) {
if($position["Time"] == "NA") {
unset($records[$record][$value]);
}
}
}
}
}

Answer 1

With passing array element by reference and filtering function you can reduce your code to:
foreach($records as &$record) {
$record['Positions'] = array_filter(
$record['Positions'],
function ($v) {
return $v['Time'] !== 'NA';
}
);
}
Fiddle here.

Answer 2

Php uses a copy of the array in the foreach. You might also use a key in the foreach and use that to unset the value in the original $records array.
foreach ($records as $keyRecord => $record) {
foreach ($record as $key => $value) {
if (is_array($value)) {
foreach ($value as $keyPosition => $position) {
if ($position["Time"] == "NA") {
unset($records[$keyRecord][$key][$keyPosition]);
}
}
}
}
}
print_r($records);
Output
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[Id] => 151601
[First_name] => John
[Positions] => Array
(
[North] => Array
(
[Current_Level] => 4
[Last_Date] => 11/7/2001
[Time] => 4:15 AM
)
[East] => Array
(
[Current_Level] => 4
[Last_Date] => 7/10/2003
[Time] => 7:30 PM
)
)
)
)
Php demo