Why doesn't in_array() do what I want it to do?

PHP
1

This works:

  if( in_array('jb-svg', $_POST) || in_array('both', $_POST) || in_array('highcharts', $_POST) ):
   echo 'NO PROBLEM';
endif;

This doesn’t

if( in_array( array('jb-svg', 'both', 'highcharts'), $_POST) ):
 echo 'BIG PROBLEM';
endif;
2

It’s a bit strange but when an array is passed as the first argument, the second one must contain the same array. Not array elements. From the manual http://php.net/manual/en/function.in-array.php

$a = array(array('p', 'h'), array('p', 'r'), 'o');

if (in_array(array('p', 'h'), $a)) {
    echo "'ph' was found\n"; 
}

I suspect array_reduce could be used to implement the desired functionality.

3

Many thanks for the prompt reply. I checked the manual and incorrectly thought using an array would work OK and was most surprised when it failed on all three occurrences!

array_reduce(…) seems far too complicated and overkill.

I have three form input type submit buttons and the first option is verbose but at least it works OK. I will stick to using the verbose version.

4

You could do an array_intersect and see if the result has at least one entry.

1 Like
5

Or you could use preg_grep, like

if (preg_grep('/jb-svg|both|highcharts/', $_POST) {
  echo "No problem!";
}
1 Like
6

An array of arrays ((red, blue), (green, black)) is not the same as an array of elements (red, blue, green, black).

1 Like
7 
if(array_intersect(['jb-svg', 'both', 'highcharts'], $_POST)):
1 Like
8

Meanwhile I decided to test for $postSubmit and use strpos(…) because $postSubmit is used in other sections of the script and I prefer testing for a numeric instead of an empty array().

  $postSubmit = isset($_POST['submit']) ? $_POST['submit'] : NULL;
  if( $postSubmit && strpos('\jb-svgbothhighcharts', $postSubmit) ):
    echo 'SUCCESS';
  endif;

Many thanks for the examples which I will certainly consider in the future.

9

This topic was automatically closed 91 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.