PHP one array with and without explicit keys - php

Question

I'm trying to figure out a better/cleaner way to have something like this in PHP:
// This will be parsed as the only argument in a function...
$params = array('Name', 'Age', 'Mail' => 'some#mail.com');
"Name" and "Age" are values with automatic keys (0 and 1, eg.), and "Mail" is a key with "some#mail.com" value:
[0] => 'Name',
[1] => 'Age',
['Mail'] => 'some#mail.com'
When running through it in a foreach loop, to have "Name" and "Age" as the actual parameters I'm using this:
foreach ($params as $k => $i) {
// This is the ugly part!
if (is_int($k)) {
$k = $i;
$i = false;
}
// To do something like this, for example...
$out = "";
if ($i) {
$out .= "<p>$k</p>\n";
} else {
$out .= "<p>$k<p>\n";
}
}
That will return something like this:
<p>Name</p>
<p>Age</p>
<p>Mail</p>
Is there a better way to do it?
Thanks in advance.
Edit #1: Elaborating the question: is there a clean PHP way to distinguish elements that have explicitly informed keys from the ones that have not in the same array?

Answer 1

You are right about the ugly part. It should be better when you use keys for all elements, and decide on the key name whether of not to use the mail link:
$params = array('name'=>'Name', 'age'=>'Age', 'mail'=>'some#mail.com');
foreach ($params as $k => $i) {
$out .= ($k == 'mail') ? '$k' : $k;
}

Answer 2

Why not just give name and age a key?
Or better yet, if you know that the params array will always be in this format, ditch the loop all together:
echo '<p>'.$params[0].'</p>';
echo '<p>'.$params[1].'</p>';
echo '<p>Mail</p>;

Answer 3

if (!is_int($k)) {
$out .= "<p>$k</p>\n";
} else {
$out .= "<p>$i<p>\n";
}

Answer 4

I found 2 solution for what I wanted:
1 - Sticking to the original approach, I could pass the arguments as follows:
my_function(['Name', 'Age', ['Mail' => 'a#mail.com']]);
or...
my_function(array('Name', 'Age', array('Mail' => 'a#mail.com')));
Using "is_array()" later on to distinguish the parameter's type:
if (is_array($i)) {
$p = current($i);
$c = key($i);
$out .= "<p>$c</p>\n";
} else {
$out .= "<p>$i<p>\n";
}
2 - But, changing my original paradigm, I found another option to parse a undefined number of arguments: the function "func_get_args()". My function would be called like this:
my_function('Name', 'Age', ['Mail' => 'a#mail.com']);
or...
my_function('Name', 'Age', array('Mail' => 'a#mail.com'));
Here is an example to create table rows:
function add_table_row() {
$args = func_get_args(); // returns an array of arguments...
$o = "<tr>\n";
foreach ($args as $value) {
if (is_array($value)) { // If the argument is an array...
$cellcont = key($value); // The contents is the key...
$param = current($value); // And the parameter is the value...
$o .= "<td $param>$cellcont</td>\n";
} else {
$o .= "<td>$value</td>\n";
}
}
$o .= "</tr>\n";
return $o;
}
Bottom line, both solutions uses "is_array" the same way, but the second one looks more clear, IMO.