php - Get first key in a (possibly) associative array?
Get the solution ↓↓↓What's the best way to determine the first key in a possibly associative array? My first thought it to just foreach the array and then immediately breaking it, like this:
foreach ($an_array as $key => $val) break;
Thus having $key contain the first key, but this seems inefficient. Does anyone have a better solution?
Answer
Solution:
2019 Update
Starting from PHP 7.3, there is a new built in function calledarray_key_first()
which will retrieve the first key from the given array without resetting the internal pointer. Check out the documentation for more info.
reset($array);
$first_key = key($array);
It's essentially the same as your initial code, but with a little less overhead, and it's more obvious what is happening.
Just remember to callreset
, or you may get any of the keys in the array. You can also use instead of
reset
to get the last key.
If you wanted the key to get the first value,reset
actually returns it:
$first_value = reset($array);
There is one special case to watch out for though (so check the length of the array first):
$arr1 = array(false);
$arr2 = array();
var_dump(reset($arr1) === reset($arr2)); // bool(true)
Answer
Solution:
array_keys
returns an array of keys. Take the first entry. Alternatively, you could callreset
on the array, and subsequentlykey
. The latter approach is probably slightly faster (Thoug I didn't test it), but it has the side effect of resetting the internal pointer.
Answer
Solution:
Interestingly enough, the foreach loop is actually the most efficient way of doing this.
Since the OP specifically asked about efficiency, it should be pointed out that all the current answers are in fact much less efficient than a foreach.
I did a benchmark on this with php 5.4, and the reset/key pointer method (accepted answer) seems to be about 7 times slower than a foreach. Other approaches manipulating the entire array (array_keys, array_flip) are obviously even slower than that and become much worse when working with a large array.
Foreach is not inefficient at all, feel free to use it!
Edit 2015-03-03:
Benchmark scripts have been requested, I don't have the original ones but made some new tests instead. This time I found the foreach only about twice as fast as reset/key. I used a 100-key array and ran each method a million times to get some noticeable difference, here's code of the simple benchmark:
$array = [];
for($i=0; $i < 100; $i++)
$array["key$i"] = $i;
for($i=0, $start = microtime(true); $i < 1000000; $i++) {
foreach ($array as $firstKey => $firstValue) {
break;
}
}
echo "foreach to get first key and value: " . (microtime(true) - $start) . " seconds <br />";
for($i=0, $start = microtime(true); $i < 1000000; $i++) {
$firstValue = reset($array);
$firstKey = key($array);
}
echo "reset+key to get first key and value: " . (microtime(true) - $start) . " seconds <br />";
for($i=0, $start = microtime(true); $i < 1000000; $i++) {
reset($array);
$firstKey = key($array);
}
echo "reset+key to get first key: " . (microtime(true) - $start) . " seconds <br />";
for($i=0, $start = microtime(true); $i < 1000000; $i++) {
$firstKey = array_keys($array)[0];
}
echo "array_keys to get first key: " . (microtime(true) - $start) . " seconds <br />";
On my php 5.5 this outputs:
foreach to get first key and value: 0.15501809120178 seconds
reset+key to get first key and value: 0.29375791549683 seconds
reset+key to get first key: 0.26421809196472 seconds
array_keys to get first key: 10.059751987457 seconds
reset+key http://3v4l.org/b4DrN/perf#tabs
foreach http://3v4l.org/gRoGD/perf#tabs
Answer
Solution:
key($an_array)
will give you the first key
edit per Blixt: you should callreset($array);
beforekey($an_array)
to reset the pointer to the beginning of the array.
Answer
Solution:
For 2018+
Starting with PHP 7.3, there is anarray_key_first()
function that achieve exactly this:
$array = ['foo' => 'lorem', 'bar' => 'ipsum'];
$firstKey = array_key_first($array); // 'foo'
Documentation is available here. рџ?‰
Answer
Solution:
If efficiency is not that important for you, you can usearray_keys($yourArray)[0]
in PHP 5.4 (and higher).
Examples:
# 1
$arr = ["my" => "test", "is" => "best"];
echo array_keys($arr)[0] . "\r\n"; // prints "my"
# 2
$arr = ["test", "best"];
echo array_keys($arr)[0] . "\r\n"; // prints "0"
# 3
$arr = [1 => "test", 2 => "best"];
echo array_keys($arr)[0] . "\r\n"; // prints "1"
The advantage over solution:
list($firstKey) = array_keys($yourArray);
is that you can passarray_keys($arr)[0]
as a function parameter (i.e.doSomething(array_keys($arr)[0], $otherParameter)
).
HTH
Answer
Solution:
Please find the following:
$yourArray = array('first_key'=> 'First', 2, 3, 4, 5);
$keys = array_keys($yourArray);
echo "Key = ".$keys[0];
Answer
Solution:
$myArray = array(
2 => '3th element',
4 => 'first element',
1 => 'second element',
3 => '4th element'
);
echo min(array_keys($myArray)); // return 1
Answer
Solution:
This could also be a solution:
$yourArray = array('first_key'=> 'First', 2, 3, 4, 5);
$first_key = current(array_flip($yourArray));
echo $first_key;
I have tested it and it works.
Answer
Solution:
To enhance on the solution of Webmut, I've added the following solution:
$firstKey = array_keys(array_slice($array, 0, 1, TRUE))[0];
The output for me on PHP 7.1 is:
foreach to get first key and value: 0.048566102981567 seconds
reset+key to get first key and value: 0.11727809906006 seconds
reset+key to get first key: 0.11707186698914 seconds
array_keys to get first key: 0.53917098045349 seconds
array_slice to get first key: 0.2494580745697 seconds
If I do this for an array of size 10000, then the results become
foreach to get first key and value: 0.048488140106201 seconds
reset+key to get first key and value: 0.12659382820129 seconds
reset+key to get first key: 0.12248802185059 seconds
array_slice to get first key: 0.25442600250244 seconds
The array_keys method times out at 30 seconds (with only 1000 elements, the timing for the rest was about the same, but the array_keys method had about 7.5 seconds).
Answer
Solution:
$arr = array('key1'=>'value1','key2'=>'value2','key3'=>'key3');
list($first_key) = each($arr);
print $first_key;
// key1
Answer
Solution:
This is the easier way I had ever found. Fast and only two lines of code :-D
$keys = array_keys($array);
echo $array[$keys[0]];
Answer
Solution:
The best way that worked for me was
array_shift(array_keys($array))
array_keys
gets array of keys from initial array and thenarray_shift
cuts from it first element value.
You will need PHP 5.4+ for this.
Answer
Solution:
php73:
$array = ['a' => '..', 'b' => '..'];
array_key_first($array); // 'a'
array_key_last($array); // 'b';
Answer
Solution:
Since PHP 7.3.0 function can be used.
There are several ways to provide this functionality for versions prior to PHP 7.3.0. It is possible to usearray_keys()
, but that may be rather inefficient. It is also possible to usereset()
andkey()
, but that may change the internal array pointer. An efficient solution, which does not change the internal array pointer, written as polyfill:
<?php
if (!function_exists('array_key_first')) {
function array_key_first(array $arr) {
foreach($arr as $key => $unused) {
return $key;
}
return null;
}
}
?>
Answer
Solution:
Re the @Blixt answer, prior to 7.3.0, this polyfill can be used:
if (!function_exists('array_key_first')) {
function array_key_first(array $array) {
return key(array_slice($array, 0, 1, true));
}
}
Answer
Solution:
A one-liner:
$array = array('key1'=>'value1','key2'=>'value2','key3'=>'key3');
echo key( array_slice( $array, 0, 1, true ) );
# echos 'key1'
Answer
Solution:
Today I had to search for the first key of my array returned by a POST request. (And note the number for a form id etc)
Well, I've found this: Return first key of associative array in PHP
I've done this, and it work.
$data = $request->request->all();
dump($data);
while ($test = current($data)) {
dump($test);
echo key($data).'<br />';die();
break;
}
Maybe it will eco 15min of an other guy. CYA.
Answer
Solution:
I think the best and fastest way to do it is:
$first_key=key(array_slice($array, 0, 1, TRUE))
Answer
Solution:
You can play with your array
$daysArray = array('Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Sunday');
$day = current($transport); // $day = 'Monday';
$day = next($transport); // $day = 'Tuesday';
$day = current($transport); // $day = 'Tuesday';
$day = prev($transport); // $day = 'Monday';
$day = end($transport); // $day = 'Sunday';
$day = current($transport); // $day = 'Sunday';
To get the first element of array you can usecurrent
and for last element you can useend
Edit
Just for the sake for not getting any more down votes for the answer you can convert you key to value usingarray_keys
and use as shown above.
Answer
Solution:
use :
$array = ['po','co','so'];
echo reset($array);
Result : po
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