PHP: How to use array_filter() to filter array key

Question

The callback function in array_filter() only passes in the array's values, not the keys.

If I have:

$my_array = array("foo" => 1, "hello" => "world");

$allowed = array("foo", "bar");

What's the best way to delete all keys in $my_array that are not in the $allowed array?

Desired output:

$my_array = array("foo" => 1);

Answer 1

Starting from PHP 5.6, you can use the ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY flag in array_filter:

$result = array_filter($my_array, function ($k) use ($allowed) {
    return in_array($k, $allowed);
}, ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY);

Otherwise, you can use this function (from TestDummy):

function filter_array_keys(array $array, $callback)
{
    $matchedKeys = array_filter(array_keys($array), $callback);

    return array_intersect_key($array, array_flip($matchedKeys));
}

$result = filter_array_keys($my_array, function ($k) use ($allowed) {
    return in_array($k, $allowed);
});

And here is an augmented version of mine, which accepts a callback or directly the keys:

function filter_array_keys(array $array, $keys)
{
    if (is_callable($keys)) {
        $keys = array_filter(array_keys($array), $keys);
    }

    return array_intersect_key($array, array_flip($keys));
}

// using a callback, like array_filter:
$result = filter_array_keys($my_array, function ($k) use ($allowed) {
    return in_array($k, $allowed);
});

// or, if you already have the keys:
$result = filter_array_keys($my_array, $allowed));

Last but not least, you may also use a simple foreach:

$result = [];
foreach ($my_array as $key => $value) {
    if (in_array($key, $allowed)) {
        $result[$key] = $value;
    }
}

Answer 2

If you are looking for a method to filter an array by a string occurring in keys, you can use:

$mArray=array('foo'=>'bar','foo2'=>'bar2','fooToo'=>'bar3','baz'=>'nope');
$mSearch='foo';
$allowed=array_filter(
    array_keys($mArray),
    function($key) use ($mSearch){
        return stristr($key,$mSearch);
    });
$mResult=array_intersect_key($mArray,array_flip($allowed));

The result of print_r($mResult) is

Array ( [foo] => bar [foo2] => bar2 [fooToo] => bar3 )

---

An adaption of this answer that supports regular expressions

function array_preg_filter_keys($arr, $regexp) {
  $keys = array_keys($arr);
  $match = array_filter($keys, function($k) use($regexp) {
    return preg_match($regexp, $k) === 1;
  });
  return array_intersect_key($arr, array_flip($match));
}

$mArray = array('foo'=>'yes', 'foo2'=>'yes', 'FooToo'=>'yes', 'baz'=>'nope');

print_r(array_preg_filter_keys($mArray, "/^foo/i"));

Output

Array
(
    [foo] => yes
    [foo2] => yes
    [FooToo] => yes
)

Answer 3

//Filter out array elements with keys shorter than 4 characters // By using Anonymous function with Closure...

function comparison($min)
{
   return function($item) use ($min) { 
      return strlen($item) >= $min;   
   }; 
}

$input = array(
  0      => "val 0",
  "one"  => "val one",
  "two"  => "val two",
  "three"=> "val three",
  "four" => "val four",  
  "five" => "val five",    
  "6"    => "val 6"    
);

$output = array_filter(array_keys($input), comparison(4));

print_r($output);

Answer 4

Here's a less flexible alternative using unset():

$array = array(
    1 => 'one',
    2 => 'two',
    3 => 'three'
);
$disallowed = array(1,3);
foreach($disallowed as $key){
    unset($array[$key]);
}

The result of print_r($array) being:

Array
(
    [2] => two
)

This is not applicable if you want to keep the filtered values for later use but tidier, if you're certain that you don't.

Answer 5

With this function you can filter a multidimensional array

function filter_array_keys($array,$filter_keys=array()){

    $l=array(&$array);
    $c=1;
    //This first loop will loop until the count var is stable//
    for($r=0;$r<$c;$r++){
        //This loop will loop thru the child element list//
        $keys = array_keys($l[$r]);

        for($z=0;$z<count($l[$r]);$z++){
            $object = &$l[$r][$keys[$z]];

            if(is_array($object)){
                $i=0;
                $keys_on_array=array_keys($object);
                $object=array_filter($object,function($el) use(&$i,$keys_on_array,$filter_keys){
                    $key = $keys_on_array[$i];
                    $i++;

                    if(in_array($key,$filter_keys) || is_int($key))return false;                
                    return true;                        
                });
            }

            if(is_array($l[$r][$keys[$z]])){
                $l[] = &$l[$r][$keys[$z]];
                $c++;
            }//IF           
        }//FOR
    }//FOR  

    return $l[0];

}

Answer 6

I needed to do same, but with a more complex array_filter on the keys.

Here's how I did it, using a similar method.

// Filter out array elements with keys shorter than 4 characters
$a = array(
  0      => "val 0", 
  "one"  => "val one", 
  "two"  => "val two", 
  "three"=> "val three", 
  "four" => "val four", 
  "five" => "val five", 
  "6"    => "val 6"
); 

$f = array_filter(array_keys($a), function ($k){ return strlen($k)>=4; }); 
$b = array_intersect_key($a, array_flip($f));
print_r($b);

This outputs the result:

Array
(
    [three] => val three
    [four] => val four
    [five] => val five
)