Can I access item in array without additional loop? - php

Question

I have a data structure like this:
array (size=4)
'active' =>
array (size=1)
170 =>
object(stdClass)[2847]
public 'item' => string '170' (length=3)
'complete' =>
array (size=1)
8 =>
object(stdClass)[2849]
public 'item' => string '8' (length=1)
'dropped' =>
array (size=1)
10 =>
object(stdClass)[2850]
public 'item' => string '10' (length=2)
'total' =>
array (size=1)
188 =>
object(stdClass)[2851]
public 'item' => string '188' (length=3)
I am using this loop to iterate the datastruct and access the value in item.
foreach($ecounts as $key => $value){
if($key == 'total'){
foreach($value as $i){
$te = $i->item;
}
}elseif($key == 'active'){
foreach($value as $i){
$ae = $i->item;
}
}elseif($key == 'dropped'){
foreach($value as $i){
$de = $i->item;
}
}elseif($key == 'complete'){
foreach($value as $i){
$ce = $i->item;
}
}
}
I am sure there is a smarter way to access the item value. The additional foreach() loop inside each if statement seems overkill, but I could not find a better way to accomplish.
Thank you for insights.

Answer 1

Maybe you can decide the name of the variable before you start the additional loops.
Like
foreach($ecounts as $key => $value){
$var = ($key == 'total' ? 'te' : $key == 'active' : 'ae' ? $key == 'dropped' : 'de' ? $key == 'complete' : 'ce');
foreach($value as $i){
${$var} = $i->item;
}
}
Read http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.variable.php for more documentation.