Ensure order in for loop involving json_decode() - php

Question

I'm using json_decode to parse JSON files. In a for loop, I attempt to capture specific cases in the JSON in which one element or another exist. I've implemented a function that seems to fit my needs, but I find that I need to use two for loops to get it to catch both of my cases.
I would rather use a single loop, if that's possible, but I'm stuck on how to get both cases caught in a single pass. Here's a mockup of what I would like the result to look like:
<?php
function extract($thisfile){
$test = implode("", file($thisfile));
$obj = json_decode($test, true);
for ($i = 0; $i <= sizeof($obj['patcher']['boxes']); $i ++) {
//this is sometimes found 2nd
if ($obj['patcher']['boxes'][$i]['box']['name'] == "mystring1") {
}
//this is sometimes found 1st
if ($obj['patcher']['boxes'][$i]['box']['name'] == "mystring2") {
}
}
}
?>
Can anyone tell me how I could catch both cases outlined above within a single iteration?
I clearly could not do something like
if ($obj['patcher']['boxes'][$i]['box']['name'] == "string1" && $obj['patcher']['boxes'][$i]['box']['name'] == "string2") {}
...because that condition would never be met.

Answer 1

Generally what I do when I have raw data that is in an order that isn't ideal to work with is to run a first loop pass to generate a a list of indexes for me to pass through a second time.
So a quick example from your code:
<?php
function extract($thisfile){
$test = implode("", file($thisfile));
$obj = json_decode($test, true);
$index_mystring2 = array(); //Your list of indexes for the second condition
//1st loop.
$box_name;
for ($i = 0; $i <= sizeof($obj['patcher']['boxes']); $i ++) {
$box_name = $obj['patcher']['boxes'][$i]['box']['name'];
if ( $box_name == "mystring1") {
//Do your code here for condition 1
}
if ($box_name == "mystring2") {
//We push the index onto an array for a later loop.
array_push($index_mystring2, $i);
}
}
//2nd loop
for($j=0; $j<=sizeof($index_mystring2); $j++) {
//Your code here. do note that $obj['patcher']['boxes'][$j]
// will refer you to the data in your decoded json tree
}
}
?>
Granted you can do this in more generic ways so it's cleaner (ie, generate both the first and second conditions into indexes) but i think you get the idea :)

Answer 2

I found that something like what #Jon had mentioned is probably the best way to attack this problem, for me at least:
<?php
function extract($thisfile){
$test = implode("", file($thisfile));
$obj = json_decode($test, true);
$found1 = $found2 = false;
for ($i = 0; $i <= sizeof($obj['patcher']['boxes']); $i ++) {
//this is sometimes found 2nd
if ($obj['patcher']['boxes'][$i]['box']['name'] == "mystring1") {
$found1 = true;
}
//this is sometimes found 1st
if ($obj['patcher']['boxes'][$i]['box']['name'] == "mystring2") {
$found2 = true;
}
if ($found1 && $found2){
break;
}
}
}
?>