PHP - Search for value inside a multidimensional array - php

Question

I have a multidimensional $array. One of its column is customer name.
I have to save all the rows of array in a db, except for the rows with the same customer name.
I've written a function called searchMultidimensionalArray which creates an array that contains all the rows with different customer name. Before inserting a row in the db, I search for the current row in that array. If present, I do nothing, else I store the current row.
Here's my solution, but It's not working properly.
public function searchMultidimensionalArray($valueName, $arrayCustomer)
{
foreach ($arrayCustomer as $key => $val) {
if ($val['name'] === $valueName) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
}
This is where I loop through the array:
for ($i = 1; $i < $countArray; $i++) {
$customer = new Customer();
$customer->setName($customerName); // I already have $customerName data
if ($i == 1) {
$arrayCustomer[$i] = [
'name' => $customerName,
];
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$em->persist($customer);
$em->flush();
}
if ($this->searchMultidimensionalArray($customerName, $arrayCustomer) == true) {
$repository = $this->getDoctrine()->getRepository('AppBundle:Customer');
$customer = $repository->findOneBy(['name' => $customerName]);
} else {
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$em->persist($customer);
$em->flush();
$arrayCustomer[$i] = [
'name' => $customerName,
];
}
}

Answer 1

Unless I am misunderstanding your case, the desired result can be efficiently achieved a couple of ways.
The DB way: Set up your database table so that the name column is a unique key. That way if you try to INSERT a duplicate, the row will fail as desired.
The PHP way: I would recommend array_column() and array_unique() like this:
$unique_customer_names=array_unique(array_column($arrayCustomer,'customer_name'));
Then use $unique_customer_names to identify duplicates.
I hope one of these options provides a preferable solution for you.