Search_array in nested arrays

Question

I've got an array with nested arrays, and I was trying to use the *search_array* function to sift through the array and give me back their keys. It hasn't been working. Here's the code:

<?php 
$array = array(
 'cat1' => array(1,2,3),
 'cat2' => array(4,5,6),
 'cat3' => array(7,8,9),
);
foreach($array as $cat){
 if(is_array($cat)
 echo array_search(5,$cat); //want it to return 'cat2'
 else
 echo array_search(5,$array);
}

Thanks!

Answer 1

If you always have a two-dimensional array, then it is as easy as:

function find($needle, $haystack) {
 foreach($haystack as $key=>$value){
 if(is_array($value) && array_search($needle, $value) !== false) {
 return $key;
 }
 }
 return false;
}
$cat = find(5, $array);

• Ian: Thank you. That's precisely what I was looking for.

Answer 2

function mySearch($haystack, $needle, $index = null)
{
 $aIt = new RecursiveArrayIterator($haystack);
 $it = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($aIt); 
 while($it->valid())
 { 
 if (((isset($index) AND ($it->key() == $index)) OR (!isset($index))) AND ($it->current() == $needle)) {
 return $aIt->key();
 } 
 $it->next();
 } 
 return false;
}
$array = array(
 'cat1' => array(1,2,3),
 'cat2' => array(4,5,6),
 'cat3' => array(7,8,9),
);
echo $arr_key = mySearch($array, 5); 

this will give u the answer