Find values in multidimensional arrays - php

Question

I've a multidimensional array:
array (
array (
"username" => "foo",
"favoriteGame" => "Mario"
)
array (
"username" => "bar",
"favoriteGame" => "Mario"
)
array (
"username" => "xyz",
"favoriteGame" => "Zelda"
)
)
How could I get the usernames of the persons that like to play for example Mario the easiest way possible?
EDIT:
My fault: forget to explicitly mention that the "favoriteGame" value is dynamic and I cannot know which it is in advance.
My Solution:
foreach($users as $key => $value)
{
if(!isset($$value['favoriteGame']))
{
$$value['favoriteGame'] = array();
}
array_push($$value['favoriteGame'], $value['username']);
}
Iterate over each sub-array and find its favoriteGame value.
If there is not already an array $favoriteGame create it.
Push the username-value of the actual sub-array to the $favoriteGame array.
Thanks for your replies, I just couldn't phrase this question properly.

Answer 1

function getUsernamesByFavoriteGame($data, $game) {
$usernames = array();
foreach($data as $arr) {
if ($arr['favoriteGame'] == $game) {
$usernames[] = $arr['username'];
}
}
return $usernames;
}

Answer 2

$usernames = array();
foreach($array as $key => $value) {
if ($value['favoriteGame'] == 'Mario') {
$usernames[] = $value['username'];
}
}

Answer 3

I would use array_filter. If you have PHP 5.3 or up, you can do it like this:
$favorite = "Mario";
$filter = function($player) use($favorite) { return $player['favoriteGame'] == $favorite; };
$filtered = array_filter($players, $filter);
It will be a little different for older versions because you won't be able to use lambda functions.

Answer 4

$game = 'Mario';
$users = array();
foreach($array as $key => $value) {
if ($value['favoriteGame'] == $game) {
$users[] = $value['username'];
}
}

Answer 5

If you are using this more often then convert the data structure to something like this.
array(
"Mario" => array(
"0":"foo",
"1":"xyz"
)
"Zelda" => array(
"0":"pqr",
"1":"abc"
)
)
This will directly give you list of user names for a favorite game.
$arr[$favGame]
If you cannot change the data structure then go with with tigrang has suggested.

Answer 6

I think you should implement a custom multidimensional search function.
Take a look at this answer.
Here's how you would use it
Code | Live example
function search($array, $key, $value){
$results = array();
if (is_array($array))
{
if (isset($array[$key]) && $array[$key] == $value)
$results[] = $array;
foreach ($array as $subarray)
$results = array_merge($results, search($subarray, $key, $value));
}
return $results;
}
$arr = array (
array (
"username" => "foo",
"favoriteGame" => "Mario"
),
array (
"username" => "bar",
"favoriteGame" => "Mario"
),
array (
"username" => "xyz",
"favoriteGame" => "Zelda"
)
);
print_r(search($arr, 'favoriteGame', 'Mario'));
//OUTPUT
Array (
[0] => Array (
[username] => foo
[favoriteGame] => Mario
)
[1] => Array (
[username] => bar
[favoriteGame] => Mario
)
)

Answer 7

$array = array( 'a' => 'A',
'b'=>'B',
'c'=>'C',
'd'=>array(
'e'=>array(
'f'=>'D'
),
'g'=>array(
'h'=>'E'
)
),
'i'=>'F',
'j'=>array(
'k'=>'G'
),
'l'=>'H'
);
$new_array = array();
foreach($array as $k1=>$v1){
if(is_array($v1)){
$new_array = parseArray($new_array, $k1, $v1);
}else{
$new_array = array_merge($new_array, array($k1=>$v1));
}
}
function parseArray($new_array, $key, $val){
if(is_array($val)){
foreach($val as $k2=>$v2){
if(is_array($v2)){
$new_array = parseArray($new_array, $k2, $v2);
}else{
$new_array = array_merge($new_array, array($k2=>$v2));
}
}
}else{
$new_array = array_merge($new_array, array($key=>$val));
}
return $new_array;
}
Output
Array
(
[a] => A
[b] => B
[c] => C
[f] => D
[h] => E
[i] => F
[k] => G
[l] => H
)