PHP - search / filter a multidimentional array by string(s)

Question

I have a multidimensional array like this:

$testarray = array(
    array(
        'First name' => 'Johnny',
        'Last name' => 'Milthers',
        'Age' => '24'
    ),
    array(
        'First name' => 'Toby',
        'Last name' => 'Thomson',
        'Age' => '25'), 
    ),
    array(
        'First name' => 'Jack',
        'Last name' => 'Johnson',
        'Age' => '25'),
    );

How do i pass search strings such as 'John', to then have the array $testarray contain only the first and last array?.

I need to pass a search term, that return the whole subarray if any of the keys values contain that string.

also if i pass "Jack Johnson", $testarray should contain only the last array.

Is this possible, or am i going about it the wrong way? how do normal search result work for databases work?

I have been looking at a lot of stack overflow pages (and PHP manual + google), but nothing helped me out, if im posting something that already has an answer, please comment me the link.

Thank you soo much!

The array you give is full of syntax errors

aarryy
– aarryy

2013-11-15 17:59:57 +00:00
Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 17:59 — aarryy
– aarryy, Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 17:59

Lee · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-15 18:02:58Z

3

Here's one way of doing it, bare in mind it will only work if the search arrays are nested directly in the outer search array.

function search_array($text, $array) {
    return array_filter($array, function($a) use($text){

       return stristr(implode(" ", $a), $text);

    });
}

http://sandbox.onlinephpfunctions.com/code/09e1187ccedba0804de5d797c350e218b05951cd

answered Nov 15, 2013 at 18:02

Lee

10.6k4 gold badges39 silver badges45 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

dave · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-15 18:04:35Z

1

I haven't tested this but this should work...

function find_in_array($search, $testarray) {
  $pattern = '*'.$search.'*';
  $array = array_filter($testarray, function($entry) use ($pattern) {
    foreach($entry as $key=>$value) {
      if (fnmatch($pattern, $value)) return true;
    }
    return false;
  });
  return $array;
 }

answered Nov 15, 2013 at 18:04

dave

65.1k6 gold badges81 silver badges98 bronze badges

1 Comment

Dog Over a year ago

i tried this and it worked well, except there was an issue (for me) that there is a limit to the number of characters you can test against in fnmatch... so if you're trying to search an array item with more than 260 characters it throws an error.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP - search / filter a multidimentional array by string(s)

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related