How to check array for existing elements to assign ticket numbers? - php

Question

I am attempting to create a function which will tell me what free numbers are available to use, I have a function which returns the numbers which have already been taken in an array.
I wish to check the returned array with existing elements against a blank array, and if the number is not in the array then push/add it to the empty array to allow me to return an array of available numbers/tickets.
I have tried some examples on here and looked upon PHP documentation on some items trying array_intersect, in_array etc.
I believe the best way to add the free numbers to the empty array is using array_push which has not been implemented into the example code as of yet.
Available numbers function so far:
function freeNumbers($drawID){
$minTickets = 1;
$maxTickets = totalTickets($drawID);
$takenNumbers = takenNumbers($drawID);
$freeNumbers = array();
for($i = 1; $i<$maxTickets; $i++){
$x = $i-1;
foreach($takenNumbers as $v){
if(in_array($v, $freeNumbers)){
echo "Element is in array";
break;
} else {
echo $v . "is taken";
}
}
}
//return $freeNumbers;
}
Taken numbers function
function takenNumbers($drawID){
$connect = new mysqli("localhost", "root", "", "dream");
$stmt = $connect->prepare("SELECT * FROM transaction WHERE DrawID = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("i", $drawID);
$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();
if($result->num_rows == 0) exit("No rows");
$tickets = array();
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()){
$id = $row['ID'];
$tickets[] = $row['TicketNumber'];
}
return $tickets;
}
Max tickets is just counting from a database transaction table to count already assigned numbers.
In this current iteration of the project, I am receiving the following "1 is taken" for each loop.
Thanks in advance, I have attempted to explain what I am attempting to do in best terms possible. But if I haven't been able to describe something please reply so I can explain it further.

Answer 1

Instead of checking on each array item, you could get the the difference values between all of the ticket numbers and the taken ticket numbers array using array_diff() :
function freeNumbers($drawID){
$minTickets = 1;
$maxTickets = totalTickets($drawID);
$takenNumbers = takenNumbers($drawID);
$freeNumbers = array();
$allTickets = range(1, $maxTickets);
$freeNumbers = array_values(array_diff($allTickets, $takenNumbers));
//return $freeNumbers;
}
Edit : added array_values() to reset the array index returned from the array_diff() function.
Edit : Or if you prefer to use the array_push() function, you could do it like :
for($i = 1; $i<$maxTickets; $i++){
if(!in_array($i, $takenNumbers)){
array_push($freeNumbers, $i);
}
}