Replace certain items within multidimensional array - php

Question

I have an array that can vary in how many arrays deep there are, for example:
array(
'one' => array(
array(
'something' => 'value'
),
array(
'something2' => 'value2'
),
'another' => 'anothervalue'
),
'two' => array(
array(
'something' => 'value'
),
array(
'something2' => 'value2'
),
'another' => 'anothervalue'
)
)
Now, let's say I want to replace everything with the key 'something'.
Would I need to use a recursive function to iterate through the array? or is there a better way?
Thank you!

Answer 1

Have a look at array_walk_recursive. It may be quite handy in a situation like this.
Here's an example using array_walk_recursive:
$arr = array(
'one' => array(
array('something' => 'value'),
array('something2' => 'value2'),
'another' => 'anothervalue'
),
'two' => array(
array('something' => 'value'),
array('something2' => 'value2'),
'another' => 'anothervalue'
)
);
function update_something(&$item, $key)
{
if($key == 'something')
$item = 'newValue';
}
array_walk_recursive($arr, 'update_something');
If used inside a class the callback method have to add the object along with the function. This is achieved with an array:
array_walk_recursive($arr, array($this, 'update_something'));

Answer 2

This is a function that you can either be used as a global function or you just put it into a class:
/**
* replace any value in $array specified by $key with $value
*
* #return array array with replaced values
*/
function replace_recursive(Array $array, $key, $value)
{
array_walk_recursive($array, function(&$v, $k) use ($key, $value)
{$k == $key && $v = $value;});
return $array;
}
# usage:
$array = replace_recursive($array, 'something', 'replaced');
It's also making use of array_walk_recursive but encapsulated. The key and the value can be specified as function parameters and not hardencoded in some callback, so it's more flexible.