PHP: Delete an element from an array

There are different ways to delete an array element, where some are more useful for some specific tasks than others.

Delete one array element

If you want to delete just one array element you can use unset() or alternative array_splice().

Also if you have the value and don't know the key to delete the element you can use array_search() to get the key.

unset() method

Note that when you use unset() the array keys won't change/reindex. If you want to reindex the keys you can use array_values() after unset() which will convert all keys to numerical enumerated keys starting from 0.

Code

<?php

    $array = array(0 => "a", 1 => "b", 2 => "c");
    unset($array[1]);
               //↑ Key which you want to delete

?>

Output

Array (
    [0] => a
    [2] => c
)

array_splice() method

If you use array_splice() the keys will be automatically reindexed, but the associative keys won't change opposed to array_values() which will convert all keys to numerical keys.

Also array_splice() needs the offset, not the key!, as second parameter.

Code

<?php

    $array = array(0 => "a", 1 => "b", 2 => "c");
    array_splice($array, 1, 1);
                       //↑ Offset which you want to delete

?>

Output

Array (
    [0] => a
    [1] => c
)

array_splice() same as unset() take the array by reference, this means you don't want to assign the return values of those functions back to the array.

Delete multiple array elements

If you want to delete multiple array elements and don't want to call unset() or array_splice() multiple times you can use the functions array_diff()or array_diff_key() depending on if you know the values or the keys of the elements which you want to delete.

array_diff() method

If you know the values of the array elements which you want to delete, then you can use array_diff(). As before with unset() it won't change/reindex the keys of the array.

Code

<?php

    $array = array(0 => "a", 1 => "b", 2 => "c");
    $array = array_diff($array, ["a", "c"]);
                              //└────────┘→ Array values which you want to delete

?>

Output

Array (
    [1] => b
)

array_diff_key() method

If you know the keys of the elements which you want to delete, then you want to use array_diff_key(). Here you have to make sure you pass the keys as keys in the second parameter and not as values. Otherwise you have to flip the array with array_flip(). And also here the keys won't change/reindex.

Code

<?php

    $array = array(0 => "a", 1 => "b", 2 => "c");
    $array = array_diff_key($array, [0 => "xy", "2" => "xy"]);
                                   //↑           ↑ Array keys which you want to delete
?>

Output

Array (
    [1] => b
)

Also if you want to use unset() or array_splice() to delete multiple elements with the same value you can use array_keys() to get all the keys for a specific value and then delete all elements.

---

  // our initial array  
   $arr = array("blue", "green", "red", "yellow", "green", "orange", "yellow", "indigo", "red");  
  print_r($arr);

  // remove the elements who's values are yellow or red  
   $arr = array_diff($arr, array("yellow", "red"));
  print_r($arr);  

This is the output from the code above:

Array
(
    [0] => blue
    [1] => green
    [2] => red
    [3] => yellow
    [4] => green
    [5] => orange
    [6] => yellow
    [7] => indigo
    [8] => red
)

Array
(
    [0] => blue
    [1] => green
    [4] => green
    [5] => orange
    [7] => indigo
)

Now, array_values() will reindex a numerical array nicely, but will remove all key strings from the array and replace them with numbers. If you need to preserve the key names (strings), or reindex the array if all keys are numerical, use array_merge():

$arr = array_merge(array_diff($arr, array("yellow", "red")));
print_r($arr);

outputs

Array
(
    [0] => blue
    [1] => green
    [2] => green
    [3] => orange
    [4] => indigo
)

---

unset($array[$index]);

---

Also, for a named element:

unset($array["elementName"]);

---

<?php
    $stack = array("fruit1", "fruit2", "fruit3", "fruit4");
    $fruit = array_shift($stack);
    print_r($stack);

    echo $fruit;
?>

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => fruit2
    [1] => fruit3
    [2] => fruit4
)

fruit1

---

unset() destroys the specified variables.

The behavior of unset() inside of a function can vary depending on what type of variable you are attempting to destroy.

If a globalized variable is unset() inside of a function, only the local variable is destroyed. The variable in the calling environment will retain the same value as before unset() was called.

<?php
function destroy_foo() 
{
    global $foo;
    unset($foo);
}

$foo = 'bar';
destroy_foo();
echo $foo;
?>

The Answer of the above code will be bar

To unset() a global variable inside of a function

<?php
function foo() 
{
    unset($GLOBALS['bar']);
}

$bar = "something";
foo();
?>

---

If you need to remove multiple elements from an associative array, you can use array_diff_key() (here used with array_flip()):

$my_array = array(
  "key1" => "value 1",
  "key2" => "value 2",
  "key3" => "value 3",
  "key4" => "value 4",
  "key5" => "value 5",
);

$to_remove = array("key2", "key4");

$result = array_diff_key($my_array, array_flip($to_remove));

print_r($result);

Output:

Array ( [key1] => value 1 [key3] => value 3 [key5] => value 5 ) 

---

/*
 * Remove by value
 */
public function removeFromArr($arr, $val)
{
    unset($arr[array_search($val, $arr)]);
    return array_values($arr);
}

---

I'd just like to say I had a particular Object, that had variable attributes (it was basically mapping a table and I was changing the columns in the table, so the attributes in the object, reflecting the table would vary as well

class obj {
    protected $fields = array('field1','field2');
    protected $field1 = array();
    protected $field2 = array();
    protected loadfields(){} 
    // This will load the $field1 and $field2 with rows of data for the column they describe
    protected function clearFields($num){
        foreach($fields as $field) {
            unset($this->$field[$num]); 
            // This did not work the line below worked
            unset($this->{$field}[$num]); // You have to resolve $field first using {}
        }
    }
}

The whole purpose of $fields was just so I don't have to look everywhere in the code when they're changed, I just look at the beginning of the class and change the list of attributes and the $fields array content to reflect the new attributes.

Took me a little while to figure this out. Hope this can help someone.

---

$arr = array('orange', 'banana', 'apple', 'raspberry');
$result= array_pop($arr);
print_r($result);

---

<?php 
//If you want to remove a particular array element use this method
$my_array = array("key1"=>"value 1","key2"=>"value 2","key3"=>"value 3");

print_r($my_array);
if(array_key_exists("key1",$my_array)){  
unset($my_array['key1']);
print_r($my_array);
}else{
echo "Key does not exist";
}
?>

<?php 
//To remove first array element
$my_array = array("key1"=>"value 1","key2"=>"value 2","key3"=>"value 3");
print_r($my_array);
$new_array=array_slice($my_array,1); 
print_r($new_array);
?>


<?php 
echo "<br/> ";
//To remove first array element to length
//starts from first and remove two element 
$my_array = array("key1"=>"value 1","key2"=>"value 2","key3"=>"value 3");
print_r($my_array);
$new_array=array_slice($my_array,1,2); 
print_r($new_array);
?>

Output

 Array ( [key1] => value 1 [key2] => value 2 [key3] => 
 value 3 ) Array (    [key2] => value 2 [key3] => value 3 ) 
 Array ( [key1] => value 1 [key2] => value 2 [key3] => value 3 ) 
 Array ( [key2] => value 2 [key3] => value 3 )
 Array ( [key1] => value 1 [key2] => value 2 [key3] => value 3 ) 
 Array ( [key2] => value 2 [key3] => value 3 ) 

---

unset() multiple, fragmented elements from an array

While unset() has been mentioned here several times, it has yet to be mentioned that unset() accepts multiple variables making it easy to delete multiple, noncontiguous elements from an array in one operation:

// Delete multiple, noncontiguous elements from an array
$array = [ 'foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'quz' ];
unset( $array[2], $array[3] );
print_r($array);
// Output: [ 'foo', 'bar' ]

unset() dynamically

unset() does not accept an array of keys to remove, so the code below will fail (it would have made it slightly easier to use unset() dynamically though).

$array = range(0,5);
$remove = [1,2];
$array = unset( $remove ); // FAILS: "unexpected 'unset'"
print_r($array);

Instead, unset() can be used dynamically in a foreach loop:

$array = range(0,5);
$remove = [1,2];
foreach ($remove as $k=>$v) {
    unset($array[$v]);
}
print_r($array);
// Output: [ 0, 3, 4, 5 ]

Remove array keys by copying the array

There is also another practice that has yet to be mentioned. Sometimes, the simplest way to get rid of certain array keys is to simply copy $array1 into $array2.

$array1 = range(1,10);
foreach ($array1 as $v) {
    // Remove all even integers from the array
    if( $v % 2 ) {
        $array2[] = $v;
    }
}
print_r($array2);
// Output: [ 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 ];

Obviously, the same practice applies to text strings:

$array1 = [ 'foo', '_bar', 'baz' ];
foreach ($array1 as $v) {
    // Remove all strings beginning with underscore
    if( strpos($v,'_')===false ) {
        $array2[] = $v;
    }
}
print_r($array2);
// Output: [ 'foo', 'baz' ]

---

This may help...

<?php
    $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
    $a2=array("a"=>"purple","b"=>"orange");
    array_splice($a1,0,2,$a2);
    print_r($a1);
    ?>

result will be:

Array ( [0] => purple [1] => orange [c] => blue [d] => yellow )

---

You can simply use unset() to delete an array.

Remember that array must be unset after foreach function.

---

unset don't change the index but array_splice does

$arrayName = array( '1' => 'somevalue',
                        '2' => 'somevalue1',
                        '3' => 'somevalue3',
                        500 => 'somevalue500',
                             );


    echo $arrayName['500']; 
    //somevalue500
    array_splice($arrayName, 1,2);

    print_r( $arrayName );
    //Array ( [0] => somevalue [1] => somevalue500 )



    $arrayName = array( '1' => 'somevalue',
                        '2' => 'somevalue1',
                        '3' => 'somevalue3',
                        500 => 'somevalue500',
                             );


    echo $arrayName['500']; 
    //somevalue500
    unset($arrayName[1]);

    print_r( $arrayName );
    //Array ( [0] => somevalue [1] => somevalue500 )