PHP array_search() Function

The PHP array_search() function searches the array for a given value and returns the first corresponding key if successful.

Syntax

array_search(value, array, strict)

Parameters

`value`	`Required.` Specify the searched value. If it is a string, the comparison is done in a case-sensitive manner.
`array`	`Required.` Specify the array.
`strict`	`Optional.` Specify true for strict comparison (===).

Return Value

Returns the key for value if it is found in the array, false otherwise.

Note: If value is found in the array more than once, the first matching key is returned. To return the keys for all matching values, array_keys() with the optional search_value parameter can be used.

Note: This function may return Boolean false, but may also return a non-Boolean value which evaluates to false. Therefore, use === operator for testing the return value of this function.

Exceptions

NA.

Example:

The example below shows the usage of array_search() function.

<?php
$Arr = array(10, 20, 25, 25, 25, 30, 40);

//searching value in the array
echo "25 is found at index: ".
      array_search(25, $Arr)."\n";
echo "30 is found at index: ".
      array_search(30, $Arr)."\n";     
?>

The output of the above code will be:

25 is found at index: 2
30 is found at index: 5

Example:

Consider one more example where this function is used with an associative array.

<?php
$Arr = array('r'=>'Red', 
             'b'=>'Blue',
             'g'=>'Green');

//searching value in the array
echo "Key of 'Blue': ".
      array_search('Blue', $Arr)."\n";
echo "Key of 'Green': ".
      array_search('Green', $Arr)."\n";     
?>

The output of the above code will be:

Key of 'Blue': b
Key of 'Green': g

❮ PHP Array Reference