php: How to get the second-to-last element of an array?

Question

There is an array, the count of the element is unknown,like this:

$arr=['a','m','q','y',....'b','f','n','s'];

How to get the second-to-last element in PHP?

• user2399035: calculate the lenght of the array with count() and then it is trivial
• lucasxciv: Maybe are you looking for array_splice?
• deEr.: array_slice — Extract a slice of the array

Answer 1

You can use array_slice() like this:

<?php
$arr=['a','m','q','y','b','f','n','s'];
echo array_slice($arr, -2, 1)[0];

Output:

n

Note: this will work regardless of the array type: indexed or associative. So even if the keys are not 0, 1, 2, 3, etc... then this would still work.

• Andreas: This is the best so far. No need to reinvent stuff if it's the last, second to last or third to last. The code will be the same and just the "-n" is different.

Answer 2

Since there are no defined keys, it's a little easier:

$second_to_last = $arr[count($arr) - 3];

• DRosenfeld: Hi - it should be "- 2" not "- 3".

Answer 3

I think this is the answer;

$arr[count($arr)-3]