Search Multidimensional Array in PHP - php

Question

How can I search the following multidimensional array for the string 'uk'?
array(43)
{
[0]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(9) "Australia" }
[1]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Bahrain" }
[2]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Belgium" }
[3]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(8) "Bulgaria" }
[4]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Canada" }
[5]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Croatia" }
[6]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Cyprus" }
[7]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(14) "Czech Republic" }
[8]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Denmark" }
[9]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Finland" }
[10]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Germany" }
[11]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Greece" }
[12]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(9) "Hong Kong" }
[13]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Hungary" }
[14]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Iceland" }
[15]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(5) "India" }
[16]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(4) "Iran" }
[17]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Israel" }
[18]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(5) "Italy" }
[19]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(5) "Japan" }
[20]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(5) "Korea" }
[21]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Kuwait" }
[22]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(5) "Malta" }
[23]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(8) "Mongolia" }
[24]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(11) "Netherlands" }
[25]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Norway" }
[26]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(8) "Pakistan" }
[27]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Poland" }
[28]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Romania" }
[29]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Russia" }
[30]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(9) "Singapore" }
[31]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(8) "Slovakia" }
[32]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(12) "South Africa" }
[33]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(13) "South America" }
[34]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(5) "Spain" }
[35]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Sweden" }
[36]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(11) "Switzerland" }
[37]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(6) "Taiwan" }
[38]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(10) "Tajikistan" }
[39]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(2) "UK" }
[40]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(20) "United Arab Emirates" }
[41]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(24) "United States of America" }
[42]=> array(1) { ["country"]=> string(7) "Vietnam" }
}

Answer 1

1) Why are you encapsulating all your simple strings in a new array?
1a) If there actually is a reason:
function my_search($needle, $haystack)
{
foreach($haystack as $k => $v)
{
if ($v["country"] == $needle)
return $k;
}
return FALSE;
}
$key = my_search("uk", $yourArray);
if($key !== FALSE)
{
...
} else {
echo "Not Found.";
}
This function may return Boolean FALSE, but may also return a
non-Boolean value which evaluates to FALSE. Please read the section on
Booleans for more information. Use the === operator for testing the
return value of this function.
1b) if there isn't:
2) Fix your array using simple strings as values, not array(1)'s of strings
3) If it's fixed, you can simply use array_search()
Edit: Changed arguments to resemble array_search more.

Answer 2

If you are using (PHP 5 >= 5.5.0) there is a better and simple way:
if(array_search('UK', array_column($array, 'country')) !== false ){
echo 'found';
}else{
echo 'Not found';
}