PHP multidimensional array search by value

I have an array where I want to search the uid and get the key of the array.

Examples

Assume we have the following 2-dimensional array:

$userdb = array(
    array(
        'uid' => '100',
        'name' => 'Sandra Shush',
        'pic_square' => 'urlof100'
    ),
    array(
        'uid' => '5465',
        'name' => 'Stefanie Mcmohn',
        'pic_square' => 'urlof100'
    ),
    array(
        'uid' => '40489',
        'name' => 'Michael',
        'pic_square' => 'urlof40489'
    )
);

The function call search_by_uid(100) (uid of first user) should return 0.

The function call search_by_uid(40489) should return 2.

I tried making loops, but I want a faster executing code.

Solution 1:

function searchForId($id, $array) {
   foreach ($array as $key => $val) {
       if ($val['uid'] === $id) {
           return $key;
       }
   }
   return null;
}

This will work. You should call it like this:

$id = searchForId('100', $userdb);

It is important to know that if you are using === operator compared types have to be exactly same, in this example you have to search string or just use == instead ===.

Based on angoru answer. In later versions of PHP (>= 5.5.0) you can use one-liner.

$key = array_search('100', array_column($userdb, 'uid'));

Here is documentation: http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-column.php.

Solution 2:

If you are using (PHP 5 >= 5.5.0) you don't have to write your own function to do this, just write this line and it's done.

If you want just one result:

$key = array_search(40489, array_column($userdb, 'uid'));

For multiple results

$keys = array_keys(array_column($userdb, 'uid'), 40489);

In case you have an associative array as pointed in the comments you could make it with:

$keys = array_keys(array_combine(array_keys($userdb), array_column($userdb, 'uid')),40489);

If you are using PHP < 5.5.0, you can use this backport, thanks ramsey!

Update: I've been making some simple benchmarks and the multiple results form seems to be the fastest one, even faster than the Jakub custom function!

Solution 3:

In later versions of PHP (>= 5.5.0) you can use this one-liner:

$key = array_search('100', array_column($userdb, 'uid'));