PHP array value replacement with recursive function inside a foreach

Question

I got a array called fruits. In this array if i have oranges I will change it to I like and after that any other oranges comes up change value with a recursive function.

So far I have come up with this =>

$fruits = array("apple", "orange", "apple", "orange", "watermelon", "orange");
foreach($fruits as $key=>$fruit){
 if($fruit == "orange"){
 $fruits[$key] = "I like";
 $fruits = rec_fruits($fruits, 0);
 }
}
function rec_fruits($arr, $i){
 if(count($arr) > $i ) {
 if($arr[$i] == "orange" ){
 $arr[$i] = "grape";
 }
 $i++;
 return rec_fruits($arr, $i );
 } else {
 return $arr;
 }
}

This is not making any changes to the $fruits array. Even when I use the recursive function like this nothing is changed inside the $fruits=>

function rec_fruits(&$arr, $i)

Usage in the foreach without assigning it to $fruits array =>

rec_fruits($fruits, 0);

I know there are ways to achieve this, but i wanted to do like this.

What i want in the array to finally like this =>

Array (

[0] => apple

[1] => I like

[2] => apple

[3] => grape

[4] => watermelon

[5] => grape )

• splash58: $i++; return rec_fruits($arr, $i );
• splash58: if eval.in/1057556 is not expected result, show in the question, what you want to get

Answer 1

Well, if you have been wondering why the heck it doesn't make any changes to the Array then it's because of following lines:

$fruits = array("apple", "orange", "apple", "orange", "watermelon", "orange");
// Note: Your above array is not an associative array which contains Key-Value pairs
// But here in the bellow foreach-loop you are trying to instantiate a Key-Value
// pair for each of the element in the given array
foreach($fruits as $key=>$fruit){
 // So it doesn't even touch following lines and it doesn't go for the recursive function call too :D
 if($fruit == "orange"){
 $fruits[$key] = "I like";
 $fruits = rec_fruits($fruits, 0);
 }
}

So what I did is for all the ease of pain, I replaced the foreach-loop with traditional old-school for-loop. Now the code looks as following and everybody are happy:

<?php
$fruits = array("apple", "orange", "apple", "orange", "watermelon", "orange");
for($i = 0; count($fruits) > $i; $i++){
 if($fruits[$i] == "orange"){
 $fruits[$i] = "I like";
 $fruits = rec_fruits($fruits, 0);
 }
}
echo json_encode($fruits);
function rec_fruits($arr, $i){
 if(count($arr) > $i ) {
 if($arr[$i] == "orange" ){
 $arr[$i] = "grape";
 }
 $i++;
 return rec_fruits($arr, $i );
 } else {
 return $arr;
 }
}

The answer is as follows:

["apple","I like","apple","grape","watermelon","grape"]

Hope this was helpful to you!

• Randika Vishman: And one thing, I didn't evaluate anything about your Recursive function, since I found the bug earlier code lines of your above script. Seems like it does what you exactly intended it to do for you!

Answer 2

Not sure what you want to accomplish. But when calling rec_fruits you are not returning anything when count($arr) > $i, therefor your are returning null to fruits, which then causes the notice of the undefined index.

function rec_fruits($arr, $i){
 if(count($arr) > $i ) {
 if($arr[$i] == "orange" ){
 $arr[$i] = "grape";
 }
 $i++;
 return rec_fruits($arr, $i );
 } else {
 return $arr;
 }
}

• menaka: Yeah! it fixed the error , but it still not give out the results i wanted. What ever the results from the function need to assign to the original array. I also updated the question

Answer 3

A sample recursive approach

$array = array("apple", "orange", "pear", "orange", "apple", "orange", "orange");
$key = "orange";
$value = "I like it";
// array_search will return index of the value if it exists in mentioned source 
// empty actually check for a FALSE value.
while(!empty($index = array_search($key, $array))) { 
 $update = array($index => $value); 
 $array = array_replace($array, $update);
}
print_r($array); // all oranges are replaced with your

• menaka: the thing is what I need to use a foreach and inside it a recursive function