Add array item then re-evaluate new array

Question

Have been scratching my head for a few hours on this, seems like a silly issue, but just can't find a solution.

Here's my sample code:

$continueLoop = true;
$colorsArray = array("red", "white", "blue");

while($continueLoop == true) {

$arrayCount = count($colorsArray);

for ($i=0; $i < $arrayCount; $i++) {
    echo "evaluating ".$colorsArray[$i]."<br>";
    if($colorsArray[$i] == "blue") {
        array_push($colorsArray, "YELLOW");
        break;
    }
}

if(count($colorsArray) == 4) {
    $continueLoop = false;
}

}

It outputs

red

white

blue

Basically I am adding a color "YELLOW" and then it should walk through the whole array again. But it's ignoring the newly added array item.

I know it does recognize the item, because the while loop will keep running until $colorsArray has 4 items (in the beginning it has only 3).

So why is it not Echo'ing "YELLOW"?

I've tried a few different solutions, just pushing the item using $array[], using foreach, array_values etc. etc.

Thank you

Update:

If i put

if(count($colorsArray) == 10) {

Still still won't print Yellow

You specifically prevent the additional iteration with your $continueLoop = false; command... — arkascha
– arkascha, Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 14:36
You break out of the for and then set $continueLoop = false so everything is done and it doesn't loop again to echo yellow. — AbraCadaver
– AbraCadaver, Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 14:48
but if I put if(count($colorsArray) == 10) it stil won't print Yellow. It will print 'red','white','blue' 8 times, but never Yellow. Is it because of the break statement? It's as if "break" will always take precedence over "echo"? — Robert Sinclair
– Robert Sinclair, Commented Sep 17, 2016 at 1:29
damn it, you're right.. It never reaches the new array items it adds because it breaks out of the loop when it reaches "blue" — Robert Sinclair
– Robert Sinclair, Commented Sep 17, 2016 at 15:26

Mikey · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-16 14:51:43Z

1

Will probably clean this up in a moment but just quickly this should do the job;

$colorsArray = array("red", "white", "blue");

for ($i=0; $i < count($colorsArray); $i++) {
    echo "evaluating ".$colorsArray[$i]."<br>";
    if($colorsArray[$i] == "blue" && !in_array('YELLOW', $colorsArray)) {
        array_push($colorsArray, "YELLOW");
    }
}

print_r($colorsArray);

Essentially you use count on each iteration, since the length of the array changes, it now has another element to loop through.

Edit: If you want it to walk through the whole array again, just set $i = -1; after you push in a new element.

Edit2: A little clean up.

$colours = array('red', 'white', 'blue');

for ($i = 0; $i < count($colours); ++$i) {
    echo 'Evaluating: ' . $colours[$i] . '<br/>';

    if ($colours[$i] === 'blue' && !in_array('Yellow', $colours)) {
        array_push($colours, 'Yellow');
        $i = -1;
    }
}

Output:

Evaluating: red
Evaluating: white
Evaluating: blue
Evaluating: red
Evaluating: white
Evaluating: blue
Evaluating: Yellow

If you reset the loot to 0 rather than -1 then you skip the first loop iteration, i.e. you miss out red.
Not sure on your dataset / purpose for this but I imagine you would want 'Yellow' to be dynamic.

edited Sep 16, 2016 at 14:51

answered Sep 16, 2016 at 14:43

Mikey

2,7041 gold badge14 silver badges20 bronze badges

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

2 Comments

Robert Sinclair Over a year ago

Hi Pigeon, appreciate the effort you put into this. The thing is that I need break statements in there. It's part of a much larger script. When I run your script it works, but it won't work with break statements inside.

Robert Sinclair Over a year ago

nm it was a dumb question, of course it won't show yellow, because each time it breaks out of the loop when it reaches "blue".. even if i was to add 1000 yellow in there it would never show them.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Add array item then re-evaluate new array

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related