Convert the first element of an array to a string in PHP

Question 1

I have a PHP array and want to convert it to a string.

I know I can use join or implode, but in my case array has only one item. Why do I have to use combine values in an array with only one item?

This array is the output of my PHP function which returns an array:

Array(18 => 'Something');

How do I convert this to a string?

Question 2

Is there any other way to convert that array into string ?

You don't want to convert the array to a string, you want to get the value of the array's sole element, if I read it correctly.

<?php
  $foo = array( 18 => 'Something' );
  $value = array_shift( $foo );
  echo $value; // 'Something'.

?>

Using array_shift you don't have to worry about the index.

EDIT: Mind you, array_shift is not the only function that will return a single value. array_pop( ), current( ), end( ), reset( ), they will all return that one single element. All of the posted solutions work. Using array shift though, you can be sure that you'll only ever get the first value of the array, even when there are multiple.

Question 3

To add to Rikesh's answer:

<?php
$aryMain = array(array('hello','bye'), array('',''),array('','')); 
$aryMain = array_filter(array_map('array_filter', $aryMain));
print_r($aryMain);

?>

Sticking his code into another array_filter will get rid of the entire arrays themselves.

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => hello
            [1] => bye
        )

)

Compared to:

$aryMain = array_map('array_filter', $aryMain);

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => hello
            [1] => bye
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
        )

)

Question 4

No, it's not possible to do directly. You might try this "clever" trick instead:

public function addPages(array $pages)
{
    foreach($pages as $page) addPage($page);
}

public function addPage(My_Page $page)
{
    //
}

But I 'm not sure if it's worth all the trouble. It would be a good approach if addPage is useful on its own.

Question 5

I would turn it into CSV form, like so:

$string_version = implode(',', $original_array)

You can turn it back by doing:

$destination_array = explode(',', $string_version)

Question 6

Maybe serializing? It will take an object/array and convert it to a string (which can then be un-serialized back later)

Convert the first element of an array to a string in PHP

Answers

php,arrays,string,object

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