How do I get the value of the first occurrence of array_walk_recursive in php

Question

I have a deep multidimensional array that I am needing to extract the value of a specific key. I have found that the array_walk_recursive function will be my best option. I only need the first occurrence.

My array looks like this - (except much more complicated)

Array (
    [vehicle info] => Array (
        [one] => Array (
            [submodel] => LX
            [engine] => 2.3
        )
        [two] => Array (
            [color] => blue
            [year] => 2007
            [wheels] => 4
        )
        [three] => Array (
            [submodel] => LX
            [make] => Ford
            [model] => F-150
            [offroad] => No
        )
    )
)

The issue here is, submodel is in both one and three. Additionally, the array is not consistent, so I must use array_walk_recursive to search through it for the matching key, then return the value for that key.

Here is my current code -

array_walk_recursive ($array, (function ($item, $key) {
    $wanted = "submodel";
    if ($key === $wanted) {
        echo ("$key is $item");
    }
}));

The above returns submodel is LXsubmodel is LX.

Bonus Question!! How can I search for multiple keys and return the first corresponding value for each of those? I was thinking putting all wanted keys in an array, then do a foreach loop, but don't quite know how to structure this. I am new to php.

Answer 1

array_walk_recursive() is the appropriate native function to call for this task. Keep track of which keys have already been declared in the result array and ensure that they are never overwritten.

Code: (Demo)

$needles = ['submodel', 'offroad'];
$result = [];
array_walk_recursive(
    $array,
    function($value, $key) use ($needles, &$result) {
        if (
            in_array($key, $needles)
            && !key_exists($key, $result)
        ) {
            $result[$key] = "$key is $value";
        }
    }
);
var_export($result);

Output:

array (
  'submodel' => 'submodel is LX',
  'offroad' => 'offroad is No',
)

For improved performance when you only want the first qualifying match, write return; as the last line inside of the if block.

---

Alternatively, you can design your own recursive function which will return when all sought keys are found.

Code: (Demo)

$soughtKeys = array_flip(['submodel', 'offroad']);

function earlyReturningRecursion(array $array, array $soughtKeys, array &$result = []): array
{
    foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
        if (!array_diff_key($soughtKeys, $result)) {  // check if result is complete
            return $result;
        } elseif (is_array($value)) {
            earlyReturningRecursion($value, $soughtKeys, $result);
        } elseif (isset($soughtKeys[$key]) && !key_exists($key, $result)) {
            $result[$key] = "$key is $value";
        }
    }
    return $result;
}
var_export(earlyReturningRecursion($array, $soughtKeys));
// same output as the first snippet