Recursive PHP function that copies multidimensional array but replaces empty values - php

Question

I have a multidimensional array that could be any size or depth. I'm basically trying replace empty values with a value but only in certain cases. Here is an example of the array, it's quite large but I want to illustrate my point well:
[field_ter] =>
[field_title] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[value] =>
)
)
[field_firstnames] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[value] => test9
)
)
[field_birth] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[value] =>
)
)
[field_postal] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[value] =>
)
)
[group_certificates] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[_delta] => 0
[field_cert_details] => Array
(
[value] =>
)
[field_cert_issuedate] => Array
(
[value] => Array
(
[date] =>
)
)
[field_cert_expiry] => Array
(
[value] => Array
(
[date] =>
)
)
[field_cert_issue_country] => Array
(
[value] =>
)
[field_cert_limits] => Array
(
[value] =>
)
)
[1] => Array
(
[_delta] => 1
[field_cert_details] => Array
(
[value] =>
)
[field_cert_issuedate] => Array
(
[value] => Array
(
[date] =>
)
)
[field_cert_expiry] => Array
(
[value] => Array
(
[date] =>
)
)
[field_cert_issue_country] => Array
(
[value] =>
)
[field_cert_limits] => Array
(
[value] =>
)
)
)
What I'm trying to do is find any element in the array that is empty, then replace the empty value with a value. I have an array of exceptions where the empty element is not replaced. This is the function I'm working on at the moment:
function check_empty(&$array) {
$exceptions = array('changed', 'form_build_id','date', 'status', 'op');
// This is the array we will return at the end of the function
$new_array = array();
foreach($array as $key => $value) {
if(is_array($value)) {
check_empty($value);
}
elseif ($value == '' && !in_array($key, $exceptions)) {
$new_array[$key] = '$$$';
}
else {
$new_array[$key] = $value;
}
}
return $new_array;
}
Could someone help me tweak my function or point me in the direction of a better way? I tried array_walk_recursive but it doesn't work with my arrays.

Answer 1

You need to assign the return value of the recursive check_empty:
function check_empty($array) {
$exceptions = array('changed', 'form_build_id','date', 'status', 'op');
// This is the array we will return at the end of the function
$new_array = array();
foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
if (is_array($value)) {
$new_array[$key] = check_empty($value);
}
elseif ($value == '' && !in_array($key, $exceptions)) {
$new_array[$key] = '$$$';
}
else {
$new_array[$key] = $value;
}
}
return $new_array;
}

Answer 2

if(is_array($value)) {
check_empty($value);
}
Here you don't return resulting value to anywhere. Probably that's the problem