Get the first key for an element in PHP? - php

Question

I'm trying to add an extra class tag if an element / value is the first one found in an array. The problem is, I don't really know what the key will be...
A minified example of the array
Array (
[0] => Array(
id => 1
name = Miller
)
[1] => Array(
id => 4
name = Miller
)
[2] => Array(
id => 2
name => Smith
[3] => Array(
id => 7
name => Jones
)
[4] => Array(
id => 9
name => Smith
)
)
So, if it's the first instance of "name", then I want to add a class.

Answer 1

I think I sort of understand what you're trying to do. You could loop through the array and check each name. Keep the names you've already created a class for in a separate array.
for each element in this array
if is in array 'done already' then: continue
else:
create the new class
add name to the 'done already' array
Sorry for the pseudo-code, but it explains it fairly well.
Edit: here's the code for it...
$done = array();
foreach ($array as $item) {
if (in_array($item['name'], $done)) continue;
// It's the first, do something
$done[] = $item['name'];
}

Answer 2

I assume you're looping through this array. So, a simple condition can be used:
$first = 0;
foreach ($arr as $value) {
if (!$first++) echo "first class!";
echo $value;
// The rest of process.
}
To get just the first value of an array, you can also use the old fashioned reset() and current() functions:
reset($arr);
$first = current($arr);

Answer 3

Animuson has it good. There a small addition if I might:
> $done = array();
> foreach ($array as $item) {
> if (in_array($item['name'], $done)) continue;
> // It's the first, do something
> $done[] = $item['name']; }
the in_array() will get slow very fast. Try something like:
$done = array();
foreach ($array as $item) {
$key = $item['name'];
if( !isset( $done[$key] )) {
...
}
$done[$key] = true;
}
btw. Too bad this site doesn't support comments for all users.