Combining two arrays using nested foreach loops

Question

I have the following arrays:

Array (db_values)
(
[0] => Array
 (
 [system_name] => object_car_brand
 [value] => Alfa Romeo
 [id] => 136
 )
[1] => Array
 (
 [system_name] => object_car_model
 [value] => Spider
 [id] => 137
 )
)
Array (db_attributes)
(
[0] => Array
 (
 [id] => 105
 [system_name] => object_car_brand
 )
[1] => Array
 (
 [id] => 106
 [system_name] => object_car_model
 )
)

I combine these two using the following code:

 foreach($db_attributes as $db_attribute){
 foreach($db_values as $db_value){
 if($db_value["system_name"] === $db_attribute["system_name"]){
 $update[$db_attribute["id"]] = $db_value["value"];
 }
 }
 }

I do not think that this is the most resource friendly way of doing it, is there a better way?

• Ismael Miguel: You should check the RecursiveArrayIterator class. (php.net/manual/en/class.recursivearrayiterator.php). I never used it, so, I can't help much.

Answer 1

I have made the assumption that there is a 1:1 relationships between the $attributes and $values array elements. With that I mean the array key in the $attributes array corresponds with an entry in $values array.

If that is the case it can be reduced to one foreach loop by using the key from the attributes array:

$combined = []; // Make sure the $combined array exists.
foreach($attributes as $key => $attribute) {
 // First check if the array key exists and that the 'system_name' is the same
 if(array_key_exists($key, $values) && $attribute['system_name'] == $values[$key]['system_name']) {
 $combined[$attribute['id']] = $values[$key]['value'];
 }
}

This should produce the following array with the data you have provided:

Array(combined)
(
 [106] => 'Alfa Romeo' 
)

If my assumption is incorrect, then just ignore my answer.

• Chilion: Your assumption is correct, the outcome of combined array is indeed what I'm looking for! Thank you, this looks alot resourcefriendlier :)

Answer 2

If the $db_attributes array is very large, it would save quite a few cycles to normalize that array first.

// normalized attributes
$attributes = array();
// loop all attr results
foreach( $db_attributes as $db_attribute ) {
 // use system name as key
 $attributes[ $db_attribute['system_name'] ] = $db_attribute['id'];
}
// final results
$update = array();
// loop all value results
foreach( $db_values as $db_value ) {
 // check if value's system name exists in normalized attributes
 if ( isset( $attributes[ $db_value['system_name'] ] ) ){
 // yes, grab the id
 $attr_id = $attributes[ $db_value['system_name'] ]; 
 // add to update array using attr id as key
 $update[ $attr_id ] = $db_value['value'];
 }
}

• Chilion: This answer is correct and indeed alot better than what I have in my opening post. The reason I'm not using it is because the attributes array will never get larger than it is right now. Thank you for your hints!
• MrMaz: The top level keys of your arrays might be matching up by coincidence. Usually the top level keys from database results are ambiguous, so be careful. The author of the accepted answer also hinted at this. Thanks for the kind words :)