PHP extract values from array

Question

I'm trying to extract values from an array within an array. The code I have so far looks like this:

$values = $request->request->get('form');
$statusArray = array();
foreach ($values->status as $state) {
 array_push($statusArray, $state);
}

The result of doing a var_dump on the $values field is this:

array (size=2) 
 'status' => 
 array (size=2)
 0 => string 'New' (length=9) 
 1 => string 'Old' (length=9) 
 'apply' => string '' (length=0)

When running the above I get an error basically saying 'status' isn't an object. Can anyone tell me how I can extract the values of the array within 'status'??

• Serty Oan: a var_dump($values); would be helpful

Answer 1

-> it's the notation to access object values, for arrays you have to use ['key']:

foreach ($values['status'] as $state) {
 array_push($statusArray, $state);
}

Object example:

class Foo {
 $bar = 'Bar';
}
$foo = new Foo();
echo $foo->bar // prints "bar"

• Tibor B.: So what's wrong with using ->? His get('form') function can still return an object, and he can use it in his loop: foreach ($values->status as $state)
• Ende Neu: Actually if you see the var_dump it says that get('form')returns an array, if it would have returned an object you could have used the -> notation like you suggested otherwise this kind of notation is not defined for arrays and you will incur in exceptions.
• Tibor B.: That's true. Sorry, my bad.
• Ende Neu: If you don't know what kind of variable you are getting back, you can use is_array or is_object to determine which kind of access operator to use.
• maloney: Thanks for the responses. Is it possible to do a null check on the array? For example, status may not always exist within the array. I tried to do something like this: 'if ($values['status'] != null){' but just get a Undefined index: status error