Better way to get first element of returned array

Question

I found myself using this:

$var=(string)array_shift(array_values($item->xpath($s)));

where $s is an xpath search string and the return is an array of objects that contain strings.

It works, but I'm not sure it's the best way to get the data I want.

I could use a tempvar, but I wanted to avoid that.

Any suggestions?

• knittl: I'd think that array_values is useless here. With PHP 5.4 you can do $item->xpath($s)[0]
• cmbuckley: Why do you want to avoid a variable here? Whats wrong with $results = $item->xpath($s); $var = (string) $results[0];?
• TecBrat: @knittl syntax error, unexpected '[' in /home/... line 211 when I tried your version. My php version might be slightly older than 5.4
• knittl: @TecBrat: array subscript on function calls was only added with PHP 5.4 (released today)

Answer 1

Careful with array_shift, as it will remove the element from the array stack, if you simply want the first value, you can use current:

$var = (string) current($item->xpath($s));

• TecBrat: Had never seen current() before. Thanks. That should be the answer to a lot of "get the first elemen" questions I've see on various PHP forums.
• Mike Purcell: There is also an end() which will get you the last element.

Answer 2

I believe this gives the same result.

$var=array_shift($item->xpath($s));

Answer 3

$var = $reset($item->xpath($s));

Note that this rewinds the array's internal pointer and returns the first element. The method current returns the element at the position the pointer happens to be in - it is not guaranteed to always be the first element.