PHP Tutorial - PHP each() Function

Definition

The each() function returns the current element key and value, and moves the internal pointer forward.

Syntax

PHP each() Function has the following syntax.

each(array)

Parameter

Parameter	Is Required	Description
array	Required.	Specifies the array to use

Related methods

Method	Description
current()	returns the value of the current element in an array
end()	moves the pointer to, and outputs, the last element in the array
next()	moves the pointer to, and outputs, the next element in the array
prev()	moves the pointer to, and outputs, the previous element in the array
reset()	moves the pointer to the first element of the array

Return

each() returns a four - element array rather than a value.

The four-element array that each() returns contains elements with both numeric and string indices, as follows:

Element Index	Element Value
0	The current element's key
"key"	The current element's key
1	The current element's value
"value"	The current element's value

We can use an index of either 0 or "key" to access the current element's key, or an index of 1 or "value" to access its value. For example:


<?PHP/*  w  w  w .java  2 s .  c o m*/
   $myBook = array( "title" =>  "Learn PHP from java2s.com", 
                   "author" =>  "java2s.com", 
                   "pubYear" =>  2000 ); 

   $element = each( $myBook ); 
   echo "Key: " . $element[0] . "\n"; 
   echo "Value: " . $element[1] . "\n"; 
   echo "Key: " . $element["key"] . "\n"; 
   echo "Value: " . $element["value"] . "\n";   
?>

The code above generates the following result.

Note

The each() function does not move the array cursor back to the first element. It picks up from where the cursor was.

each() can deal with empty variables and unknown keys.

Example 1

Output current element


<?php
$people = array("A", "B", "C", "D");
print_r (each($people));
?>

The code above generates the following result.

Example 2

A loop to output the whole array:


<?php
$people = array("A", "B", "C", "D");

reset($people);

while (list($key, $val) = each($people)){
  echo "$key => $val\n";
}
?>

The code above generates the following result.

Example 3

A demonstration of all related methods:


<?php// w w w  .  ja v a 2 s. c  om
$people = array("A", "B", "C", "D");

echo current($people) . "\n"; // The current element is A
echo next($people) . "\n"; // The next element of A is B
echo current($people) . "\n"; // Now the current element is B
echo prev($people) . "\n"; // The previous element of B is A
echo end($people) . "\n"; // The last element is D
echo prev($people) . "\n"; // The previous element of D is C
echo current($people) . "\n"; // Now the current element is C
echo reset($people) . "\n"; // Moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array, which is A
echo next($people) . "\n"; // The next element of A is B

print_r (each($people)); // Returns the key and value of the current element (now B), and moves the internal pointer forward
?>

The code above generates the following result.