Search in a 2D array… php

Question

I have this array:

$Fruit = array()

$Fruit[$species][$property] = $value

Array
(
    [Apple] => Array
        (
            [Green] => 4
            [Spots] => 3
            [Red] => 3
            [Spots] => 2
        )

Now I want to search if a key exists in the second array...

I tried this:

if (!array_key_exists($property, $Fruit->$species))

But it doesn't work...

Does anybody knows how to search inside an array of an array...?

Regards, Thijs

Answer 1

array_key_exists($property, $Fruit[$species])

-> is for objects, [] is for writing to and reading from arrays.

BTW, unless your values can be null, I'd recommend isset instead of array_key_exists:

isset($Fruit[$species][$property])

Should be more intuitive.

Answer 2

You could reference to here: http://hk2.php.net/manual/en/function.array-key-exists.php#92355

Answer 3

The above works if all you need is a yes/no (true/false) answer on your search but it doesn't return the found element additional info (from the other array dimension, for instance).

Check out this loop in the PHP manual: http://php.net/manual/en/control-structures.foreach.php and combine it with an if clause to get more

I'm not giving you a direct answer cause foreach is a part of PHP basics you need to learn.