Get next element in foreach loop

Question

I have a foreach loop and I want to see if there is a next element in the loop so I can compare the current element with the next. How can I do this? I've read about the current and next functions but I can't figure out how to use them.

Answer 1

A unique approach would be to reverse the array and then loop. This will work for non-numerically indexed arrays as well:

$items = array(
    'one'   => 'two',
    'two'   => 'two',
    'three' => 'three'
);
$backwards = array_reverse($items);
$last_item = NULL;

foreach ($backwards as $current_item) {
    if ($last_item === $current_item) {
        // they match
    }
    $last_item = $current_item;
}

If you are still interested in using the current and next functions, you could do this:

$items = array('two', 'two', 'three');
$length = count($items);
for($i = 0; $i < $length - 1; ++$i) {
    if (current($items) === next($items)) {
        // they match
    }
}

#2 is probably the best solution. Note, $i < $length - 1; will stop the loop after comparing the last two items in the array. I put this in the loop to be explicit with the example. You should probably just calculate $length = count($items) - 1;