PHP remove empty items from sides of an array - php

Question

I have the following array:
Array
(
[0] =>
[1] =>
[2] => apple
[3] =>
[4] => orange
[5] => strawberry
[6] =>
)
How can I remove the empty items from the beginning and the end, but not from the inside? The final array should look like this:
Array
(
[0] => apple
[1] =>
[2] => orange
[3] => strawberry
)

Answer 1

Here's a convenient way:
while (reset($array) == '') array_shift($array);
while (end($array) == '') array_pop($array);
See it in action.
Obligatory comment: I 'm using a loose comparison with the empty string because it looks like what you intend given your example. If you want to be more picky about exactly which elements to remove then please customize the condition accordingly.
Update: bonus hallmark PHP ugly code which might be faster
It occurred to me that if there are lots of empty elements at the beginning and end of the array the above method might not be the fastest because it removes them one by one, reindexing the array in each step, etc. So here's a solution that works for any array and does the trimming in just one step. Warning: ugly.
$firstNonEmpty = 0;
$i = 0;
foreach ($array as $val) {
if ($val != '') {
$firstNonEmpty = $i;
break;
}
++$i;
}
$lastNonEmpty = $count = count($array);
end($array);
for ($i = $count; $i > 0; --$i) {
if (current($array) != '') {
$lastNonEmpty = $i;
break;
}
prev($array);
}
$array = array_slice($array, $firstNonEmpty, $lastNonEmpty - $firstNonEmpty);
See it in action.

Answer 2

There ya go :
$Array = array('', Allo, '');
if(isset($Array[0]) && empty($Array[0])){
array_pop($Array);
}
$C = count($Array)-1;
if(isset($Array[$C]) && empty($Array[$C])){
array_shift($Array);
}
It will remove first and last empty only row.
If you want to remove all first and last but only empty you'll need to do this :
$Array = array('', Allo, '', '', 'Toc', '', '', '');
$i=0;
foreach($Array as $Key => $Value){
if(empty($Value)){
unset($Array[$Key]);
} else {
break;
}
$i++;
}
$Array = array_reverse($Array);
$i=0;
foreach($Array as $Key => $Value){
if(empty($Value)){
unset($Array[$Key]);
} else {
break;
}
$i++;
}
$Array = array_reverse($Array);

Answer 3

You can use
array_pop($array); // remove the last element
array_shift($array); // remove the first element
You can do some simple checking before to make sure the first and/or last index is empty

Answer 4

Here's another method:
<?php
$array = array('', '', 'banana', '', 'orange', '', '', '');
while ($array[0] == '')
{
array_shift($array);
}
$count = count($array);
while ($array[$count - 1] == '')
{
array_pop($array);
$count--;
}
print_r($array);
?>

Answer 5

The following snippet will do the job:
function removeStartingEmptyIndexes($array)
{
foreach($array as $i => $item)
{
if(!empty($item)) {
break;
}
else
{
unset($array[$i]);
}
}
return $array;
}
function trimEmptyIndexes($array)
{
return array_reverse(removeStartingEmptyIndexes(array_reverse(removeStartingEmptyIndexes($array))));
}
$array = array("", "", "apple", "orange", "", "", "", "lemon", "", "");
$array = trimEmptyIndexes($array);
Just call "trimEmptyIndexes($array)"

Answer 6

try this
foreach ($original_array as $index => $val) {
if (is_empty($val)) {
unset($original_array [$index]);
} else {
break;
}
}

Answer 7

while(strlen($array[0])==0)
unset(array[0]);
$doLoop=(strlen($array[ count(array)-1 ])==0);
while ($doLoop){
unset($array[ count(array)-1 ]);
$doLoop=(strlen($array[ count(array)-1 ])==0);
}