The array_filter() function filters the array’s values using the callback function. The array_filter() function passes each value of an input array to the callback function. If the callback function returns a true value, the current value from ant input is returned into the result array.
PHP array_filter
The array_filter() is a built-in PHP function that filters the values of an array using a callback function. The array_filter() method iterates over each value in an array, passing them to the callback function. If the callback function returns a true value, the current value from an array is returned to the result array. Array keys are preserved. Array keys are preserved.
How to filter array in PHP
To filter an array in PHP, use the array_filter() method. The array_filter() takes an array and filter function and returns the filtered array. The filter function is a custom user-defined function with its logic and based on that, it filters out the array values and returns them.
Let’s take an example.
<?php
// app.php
function even($value)
{
return $value % 2 == 0;
}
$arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
print_r(array_filter($arr,"even"));
In the above code, we are checking every array item that is even; if it is odd, it will be filtered out from the array, and only even item stays in the array.
The output is following.
We can also write the array_filter() function like the following.
<?php
// app.php
$arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$output = array_filter($arr, function($value) {
return $value % 2 == 0;
});
print_r($output);
The output will be the same as above; we have just written an anonymous function.
ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY
PHP 5.6 introduced the third parameter to array_filter() called flag, which you could set to ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY to filter by key instead of a value. See the following example.
<?php
// app.php
$arr = ['a' => 1, 'b' => 2, 'c' => 3, 'd' => 4];
$outputA = array_filter($arr, function($k) {
return $k == 'b';
}, ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY);
print_r($outputA);
The output is following.
ARRAY_FILTER_USE_BOTH
You can set it to ARRAY_FILTER_USE_BOTH to filter by key or value. See the following example.
<?php
// app.php
$arr = ['a' => 1, 'b' => 2, 'c' => 3, 'd' => 4];
$outputB = array_filter($arr, function($v, $k) {
return $k == 'b' || $v == 4;
}, ARRAY_FILTER_USE_BOTH);
print_r($outputB);
The output is following.
Accessing Keys in array_filter() function
You can access the current key of an array by passing a reference to the array into the callback function and call key() and next() method in the callback function. See the following example.
<?php
// app.php
$data = array('first' => 1, 'second' => 2, 'third' => 3);
$data = array_filter($data, function ($item) use (&$data) {
echo "Filtering key ", key($data)."\n";
next($data);
});
The output is following.
That’s it for this example.
