How to determine the first and last iteration in a foreach loop?

If you prefer a solution that does not require the initialization of the counter outside the loop, then you can compare the current iteration key against the function that tells you the last / first key of the array.

PHP 7.3 and newer:

foreach ($array as $key => $element) {
    if ($key === array_key_first($array)) {
        echo 'FIRST ELEMENT!';
    }

    if ($key === array_key_last($array)) {
        echo 'LAST ELEMENT!';
    }
}

PHP 7.2 and older:

foreach ($array as $key => $element) {
    reset($array);
    if ($key === key($array)) {
        echo 'FIRST ELEMENT!';
    }

    end($array);
    if ($key === key($array)) {
        echo 'LAST ELEMENT!';
    }
}

You could use a counter:

$i = 0;
$len = count($array);
foreach ($array as $item) {
    if ($i == 0) {
        // first
    } else if ($i == $len - 1) {
        // last
    }
    // …
    $i++;
}

To find the last item, I find this piece of code works every time:

foreach( $items as $item ) {
    if( !next( $items ) ) {
        echo 'Last Item';
    }
}

A more simplified version of the above and presuming you're not using custom indexes...

$len = count($array);
foreach ($array as $index => $item) {
    if ($index == 0) {
        // first
    } else if ($index == $len - 1) {
        // last
    }
}

Version 2 - Because I have come to loathe using the else unless necessary.

$len = count($array);
foreach ($array as $index => $item) {
    if ($index == 0) {
        // first
        // do something
        continue;
    }

    if ($index == $len - 1) {
        // last
        // do something
        continue;
    }
}