Delete element from multidimensional-array based on value

Question

I'm trying to delete elements from a multidimensional-array based on a value. In this case if a sub-array's key 'year' has the value 2011 I want that sub-array out.

Just for the record: i'm running PHP 5.2.

My array looks like this:

Array
(
 [0] => Array
 (
 [filmId] => 61359
 [url] => http://www.moviemeter.nl/film/61359
 [title] => Unstoppable
 [alternative_title] => 
 [year] => 2011
 [thumbnail] => http://www.moviemeter.nl/images/covers/thumbs/61000/61359.jpg
 [average] => 0
 [votes_count] => 0
 [similarity] => 100.00
 [directors_text] => geregisseerd door Richard Harrison
 [actors_text] => met Chen Shilony, Ruben Crow en David Powell
 [genres_text] => Drama / Komedie
 [duration] => 90
 )
 [1] => Array
 (
 [filmId] => 87923
 [url] => http://www.moviemeter.nl/film/87923
 [title] => Unstoppable
 [alternative_title] => 
 [year] => 2011
 [thumbnail] => http://www.moviemeter.nl/images/covers/thumbs/87000/87923.jpg
 [average] => 0
 [votes_count] => 0
 [similarity] => 100.00
 [directors_text] => geregisseerd door Example Director
 [actors_text] => met Actor 1, Actor 2 en Actor 3
 [genres_text] => Drama / Komedie
 [duration] => 90
 )
 [2] => Array
 (
 [filmId] => 68593
 [url] => http://www.moviemeter.nl/film/68593
 [title] => Unstoppable
 [alternative_title] => 
 [year] => 2010
 [thumbnail] => http://www.moviemeter.nl/images/covers/thumbs/68000/68593.jpg
 [average] => 3.3
 [votes_count] => 191
 [similarity] => 100.00
 [directors_text] => geregisseerd door Tony Scott
 [actors_text] => met Denzel Washington, Chris Pine en Rosario Dawson
 [genres_text] => Actie / Thriller
 [duration] => 98
 )
 [3] => Array
 (
 [filmId] => 17931
 [url] => http://www.moviemeter.nl/film/17931
 [title] => Unstoppable
 [alternative_title] => Nine Lives
 [year] => 2004
 [thumbnail] => http://www.moviemeter.nl/images/covers/thumbs/17000/17931.jpg
 [average] => 2.64
 [votes_count] => 237
 [similarity] => 100.00
 [directors_text] => geregisseerd door David Carson
 [actors_text] => met Wesley Snipes, Jacqueline Obradors en Mark Sheppard
 [genres_text] => Actie / Thriller
 [duration] => 96
 )
)

Answer 1

Try this:

function removeElementWithValue($array, $key, $value){
 foreach ($array as $subKey => $subArray) {
 if ($subArray[$key] == $value) {
 unset($array[$subKey]);
 }
 }
 return $array;
}

Then you would call it like this:

$array = removeElementWithValue($array, "year", 2011);

• maraspin: I second this choice. Although Jacob solution is very elegant, I wouldn't bother using recursion if the array has a nesting level which is known in advance, as in the example shown above. Of course, you have to rely on recursion (or a combination of array_map with in_array or similar functions, which can even be a little faster) if the structure of your array is not know in advance.
• Bob: Just on a sidenote: I couldn't get the result I wanted. Not sure what I did wrong but I fixed it in my case. I had to add "return $array;" after the foreach loop, and call it like this: $array = removeElementWithValue($array, "year", 2011); For people who are using this in the future and want to re-arrange the index, you can use the following: $array = array_values($array)
• Jimmy Adaro: Was useful for me. Note: this will NOT change the array index. Example: if your array has 2 items (indexed as 0 and 1), and you delete the first one (k = 0), then the array will have only the index 1 (k = 1), so that index will not be replaced as index 0.

Answer 2

Try this:

function remove_element_by_value($arr, $val) {
 $return = array(); 
 foreach($arr as $k => $v) {
 if(is_array($v)) {
 $return[$k] = remove_element_by_value($v, $val); //recursion
 continue;
 }
 if($v == $val) continue;
 $return[$k] = $v;
 }
 return $return;
}

• Luke: What is the same value exists in multiple sub arrays? They all get removed? Can we targets a particular sub array based on key?
• mickmackusa: This answer is missing its educational explanation.

Answer 3

$array[] = array('year' => 2010, "genres_text" => "Drama / Komedie");
$array[] = array('year' => 2011, "genres_text" => "Actie / Thriller");
$array[] = array('year' => "2010", "genres_text" => "Drama / Komedie");
$array[] = array('year' => 2011, "genres_text" => "Romance");
print_r(remove_elm($array, "year", 2010)); // removes the first sub-array only
print_r(remove_elm($array, "year", 201)); // will not remove anything
print_r(remove_elm($array, "genres_text", "drama", TRUE)); // removes all Drama
print_r(remove_elm($array, "year", 2011, TRUE)); // removes all 2011
function remove_elm($arr, $key, $val, $within = FALSE) {
 foreach ($arr as $i => $array)
 if ($within && stripos($array[$key], $val) !== FALSE && (gettype($val) === gettype($array[$key])))
 unset($arr[$i]);
 elseif ($array[$key] === $val)
 unset($arr[$i]);
 return array_values($arr);
}

Answer 4

For a single, known value, put this in beginning of iteration through the multidimensional array:

foreach ( $array as $subarray ) {
 //beginning of the loop where you do things with your array
 if ( $subarray->$key == '$valueToRemoveArrayBy' ) continue;
 //iterate your stuff
}

Simply skips that entire iteration if your criteria are true.

Alternately you could do the reverse. Might be easier to read, depending on taste:

foreach ( $array as $subarray ) {
 if ( $subarray->$key != $valueToRemoveArrayBy ) {
 //do stuff 
 }
}

I dunno. Maybe this looks hacky to some. I like it, though. Short, quick and simple.

Looked like the purpose of filtering in this case was to print out some contents and skip some, based on certain criteria. If you do the filtering before the loop, you'll have to loop through the entire thing twice - once to filter and once to print the contents.

If you do it like this, inside the loop, that is not required. You also won't alter your array except for inside of the loop, which can be helpful if you don't always want to filter by these criteria in particular.

Answer 5

function removeElementWithValue($array, $value){
 $temp=array(); //Create temp array variable.
 foreach($array as $item){ //access array elements.
 if($item['year'] != $value){ //Skip the value, Which is equal.
 array_push($temp,$item); //Push the array element into $temp var.
 }
 }
 return $temp; // Return the $temp array variable.
}
//Simple code to delete element of multidimensional array.
$array = removeElementWithValue($array, "year");

Answer 6

Here is my approach to this problem: use array_udiff with custom function to (un-)match 'year' from one array's elements to the elements of the "filter" array.

function fn_year_filter($a, $b) {
 return (is_array($a) ? $a['year'] : $a) != (is_array($b) ? $b['year'] : $b);
}
$array = array_udiff($array, array('2011', '2020'), 'fn_year_filter');

And even simpler with the anonymous functions of PHP> 5.3

$array = array_udiff($array, array(2011, 2020), function($a, $b) {
 return (is_array($a) ? $a['year'] : $a) != (is_array($b) ? $b['year'] : $b);
});

* Note the use of loose comparison, hence it works with integers too.

Answer 7

This is how I achieved it:

<?php 
 print_r($array);
 echo "<br><br>";
 foreach($array as $k => $v){
 echo "k: ".$k." v: ".$v."<br><br>";
 if(($v == 'Toronto') || ($v == 'London')){
 unset($array[$k]);
 }
 }
 echo "<br><br>";
 print_r($array);
?>

Note: How is my answer different than answer sent by driangle? As the answer by NiDBiLD and Abdulrazzak Jakati, the solution is quite similar to the one chosen by the asker by best answer. However, there are differences in the customized implementations that can be useful for readers to fully understand solution. My solution was applied to a real project and it is guaranteed to work properly. It is not only a prototype, but something that works correctly for sure. Please also review NiDBiLD and Abdulrazzak Jakati solutions that are quite similar to the one in the best answer and still add value to readers.