array_slice

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

array_sliceExtract a slice of the array

Description

array_slice(
    array $array,
    int $offset,
    ?int $length = null,
    bool $preserve_keys = false
): array

array_slice() returns the sequence of elements from the array array as specified by the offset and length parameters.

Parameters

array

The input array.

offset

If offset is non-negative, the sequence will start at that offset in the array.

If offset is negative, the sequence will start that far from the end of the array.

Note:

The offset parameter denotes the position in the array, not the key.

length

If length is given and is positive, then the sequence will have up to that many elements in it.

If the array is shorter than the length, then only the available array elements will be present.

If length is given and is negative then the sequence will stop that many elements from the end of the array.

If it is omitted, then the sequence will have everything from offset up until the end of the array.

preserve_keys

Note:

array_slice() will reorder and reset the integer array indices by default. This behaviour can be changed by setting preserve_keys to true. String keys are always preserved, regardless of this parameter.

Return Values

Returns the slice. If the offset is larger than the size of the array, an empty array is returned.

Examples

Example #1 array_slice() examples

<?php
$input
= array("a", "b", "c", "d", "e");

$output = array_slice($input, 2); // returns "c", "d", and "e"
$output = array_slice($input, -2, 1); // returns "d"
$output = array_slice($input, 0, 3); // returns "a", "b", and "c"

// note the differences in the array keys
print_r(array_slice($input, 2, -1));
print_r(array_slice($input, 2, -1, true));
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [0] => c
    [1] => d
)
Array
(
    [2] => c
    [3] => d
)

Example #2 array_slice() and one-based array

<?php
$input
= array(1 => "a", "b", "c", "d", "e");
print_r(array_slice($input, 1, 2));
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [0] => b
    [1] => c
)

Example #3 array_slice() and array with mixed keys

<?php
$ar
= array('a'=>'apple', 'b'=>'banana', '42'=>'pear', 'd'=>'orange');
print_r(array_slice($ar, 0, 3));
print_r(array_slice($ar, 0, 3, true));
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [a] => apple
    [b] => banana
    [0] => pear
)
Array
(
    [a] => apple
    [b] => banana
    [42] => pear
)

See Also

add a note

User Contributed Notes 18 notes

up
51
taylorbarstow at the google mail service
18 years ago
Array slice function that works with associative arrays (keys):

function array_slice_assoc($array,$keys) {
return array_intersect_key($array,array_flip($keys));
}
up
20
Ray.Paseur often uses Gmail
11 years ago
<?php
// CHOP $num ELEMENTS OFF THE FRONT OF AN ARRAY
// RETURN THE CHOP, SHORTENING THE SUBJECT ARRAY
function array_chop(&$arr, $num)
{
$ret = array_slice($arr, 0, $num);
$arr = array_slice($arr, $num);
return
$ret;
}
up
5
nathan dot fiscaletti at gmail dot com
6 years ago
If you want an associative version of this you can do the following:

function array_slice_assoc($array,$keys) {
return array_intersect_key($array,array_flip($keys));
}

However, if you want an inverse associative version of this, just use array_diff_key instead of array_intersect_key.

function array_slice_assoc_inverse($array,$keys) {
return array_diff_key($array,array_flip($keys));
}

Example:

$arr = [
'name' => 'Nathan',
'age' => 20,
'height' => 6
];

array_slice_assoc($arr, ['name','age']);

will return

Array (
'name' = 'Nathan',
'age' = 20
)

Where as

array_slice_assoc_inverse($arr, ['name']);

will return

Array (
'age' = 20,
'height' = 6
)
up
5
ted.devito at 9gmail9 dot 99com
16 years ago
based on worldclimb's arem(), here is a recursive array value removal tool that can work with multidimensional arrays.

function remove_from_array($array,$value){
$clear = true;
$holding=array();

foreach($array as $k => $v){
if (is_array($v)) {
$holding [$k] = remove_from_array ($v, $value);
}
elseif ($value == $v) {
$clear = false;
}
elseif($value != $v){
$holding[$k]=$v; // removes an item by combing through the array in order and saving the good stuff
}
}
if ($clear) return $holding; // only pass back the holding array if we didn't find the value
}
up
12
worldclimb at 99gmail99 dot com
16 years ago
array_slice can be used to remove elements from an array but it's pretty simple to use a custom function.

One day array_remove() might become part of PHP and will likely be a reserved function name, hence the unobvious choice for this function's names.

<?
function arem($array,$value){
$holding=array();
foreach($array as $k => $v){
if($value!=$v){
$holding[$k]=$v;
}
}
return $holding;
}

function akrem($array,$key){
$holding=array();
foreach($array as $k => $v){
if($key!=$k){
$holding[$k]=$v;
}
}
return $holding;
}

$lunch = array('sandwich' => 'cheese', 'cookie'=>'oatmeal','drink' => 'tea','fruit' => 'apple');
echo '<pre>';
print_r($lunch);
$lunch=arem($lunch,'apple');
print_r($lunch);
$lunch=akrem($lunch,'sandwich');
print_r($lunch);
echo '</pre>';
?>

(remove 9's in email)
up
7
s0i0m at dreamevilconcepts dot com
15 years ago
Using the varname function referenced from the array_search page, submitted by dcez at land dot ru. I created a multi-dimensional array splice function. It's usage is like so:

$array['admin'] = array('blah1', 'blah2');
$array['voice'] = array('blah3', 'blah4');
array_cut('blah4', $array);

...Would strip blah4 from the array, no matter where the position of it was in the array ^^ Returning this...

Array ( [admin] => Array ( [0] => blah1 [1] => blah2 ) [voice] => Array ( [0] => blah3 ) )

Here is the code...

<?php

function varname ($var)
{
// varname function by dcez at land dot ru
return (isset($var)) ? array_search($var, $GLOBALS) : false;
}

function
array_cut($needle, $haystack)
{
foreach (
$haystack as $k => $v)
{
for (
$i=0; $i<count($v); $i++)
if (
$v[$i] === $needle)
{
return
array_splice($GLOBALS[varname($haystack)][$k], $i, 1);
break; break;
}
}

?>

Check out dreamevilconcept's forum for more innovative creations!
up
9
developer at i-space dot org
22 years ago
remember that array_slice returns an array with the current element. you must use array_slice($array, $index+1) if you want to get the next elements.
up
1
Benjamin Sonntag
10 months ago
The documentation doesn't say it, but if LENGTH is ZERO, then the result is an empty array [].
up
1
kansey
9 years ago
To save the sort order of a numeric index in the array. Version php =>5.5.26
/*
Example
*/

$arr = array( "1" =>2, "2" =>3 , "3" =>5 );

print_r(array_slice($arr,1,null,true));

/*
Result

Array
(
[2] => 3
[3] => 5
)
*/
up
0
andreasblixt (at) msn (dot) com
18 years ago
<?php
// Combines two arrays by inserting one into the other at a given position then returns the result
function array_insert($src, $dest, $pos) {
if (!
is_array($src) || !is_array($dest) || $pos <= 0) return FALSE;
return
array_merge(array_slice($dest, 0, $pos), $src, array_slice($dest, $pos));
}
?>
up
-1
xananax at yelostudio dot com
13 years ago
<?php
/**
* Reorders an array by keys according to a list of values.
* @param array $array the array to reorder. Passed by reference
* @param array $list the list to reorder by
* @param boolean $keepRest if set to FALSE, anything not in the $list array will be removed.
* @param boolean $prepend if set to TRUE, will prepend the remaining values instead of appending them
* @author xananax AT yelostudio DOT com
*/
function array_reorder(array &$array,array $list,$keepRest=TRUE,$prepend=FALSE,$preserveKeys=TRUE){
$temp = array();
foreach(
$list as $i){
if(isset(
$array[$i])){
$tempValue = array_slice(
$array,
array_search($i,array_keys($array)),
1,
$preserveKeys
);
$temp[$i] = array_shift($tempValue);
unset(
$array[$i]);
}
}
$array = $keepRest ?
(
$prepend?
$array+$temp
:$temp+$array
)
:
$temp;
}

/** exemple ** /
$a = array(
'a' => 'a',
'b' => 'b',
'c' => 'c',
'd' => 'd',
'e' => 'e'
);
$order = array('c','b','a');

array_reorder($a,$order,TRUE);
echo '<pre>';
print_r($a);
echo '</pre>';
/** exemple end **/
?>
up
-1
Anonymous
18 years ago
If you specify the fourth argument (to not reassign the keys), then there appears to be no way to get the function to return all values to the end of the array. Assigning -0 or NULL or just putting two commas in a row won't return any results.
up
-2
Mr. P
15 years ago
Note that offset is not the same thing as key. Offset always starts at 0, while keys might be any number.

So this:

<?php print_r(array_slice(array(0 => 0, 5 => 5, 13 => 13),1)); ?>

will result in this:
Array
(
[0] => 5
[1] => 13
)
up
-3
aexchecker at yahoo dot com
16 years ago
<?php
/**
* @desc
* Combines two arrays by inserting one into the other at a given position then
* returns the result.
*
* @since 2007/10/04
* @version v0.7 2007/10/04 18:47:52
* @author AexChecker <AexChecker@yahoo.com>
* @param array $source
* @param array $destination
* @param int [optional] $offset
* @param int [optional] $length
* @return array
*/
function array_insert($source, $destination, $offset = NULL, $length = NULL) {
if (!
is_array($source) || empty($source)) {
if (
is_array($destination) && !empty($destination)) {
return
$destination;
}
return array();
}
if (
is_null($offset)) {
return
array_merge($destination, $source);
}
$offset = var2int($offset);
if (
is_null($length)) {
if (
$offset === 0) {
return
array_merge($source, array_slice($destination, 1));
}
if (
$offset === -1) {
return
array_merge(array_slice($destination, 0, -1), $source);
}
return
array_merge(
array_slice($destination, 0, $offset),
$source,
array_slice($destination, ++$offset)
);
}
if (
$offset === 0) {
return
array_merge($source, array_slice($destination, $length));
}
$destination_count = count($destination);
$length = var2int($length);
if (
$offset > 0) {
if (
$destination_count - $offset < 1) {
return
array_merge($destination, $source);
}
} else{
if ((
$t = $destination_count + $offset) < 1) {
return
array_merge($source, $destination);
}
$offset = $t;
}
if (
$length > 0) {
$length+= $offset;
} elseif (
$length < 0 && !($length * -1 < $destination_count)) {
return
$source;
} else {
$length = $offset;
}
return
array_merge(
array_slice($destination, 0, $offset),
$source,
array_slice($destination, $length)
);
}
?>
up
-3
aflavio at gmail dot com
17 years ago
/**
* Remove a value from a array
* @param string $val
* @param array $arr
* @return array $array_remval
*/
function array_remval($val, &$arr)
{
$array_remval = $arr;
for($x=0;$x<count($array_remval);$x++)
{
$i=array_search($val,$array_remval);
if (is_numeric($i)) {
$array_temp = array_slice($array_remval, 0, $i );
$array_temp2 = array_slice($array_remval, $i+1, count($array_remval)-1 );
$array_remval = array_merge($array_temp, $array_temp2);
}
}
return $array_remval;
}

$stack=Array('apple','banana','pear','apple', 'cherry', 'apple');
array_remval("apple", $stack);

//output: Array('banana','pear', 'cherry')
up
-2
bishop
19 years ago
Sometimes you need to pick certain non-integer and/or non-sequential keys out of an array. Consider using the array_pick() implementation below to pull specific keys, in a specific order, out of a source array:

<?php

$a
= array ('a' => 1, 'b' => 2, 'c' => 3, 'd' => 4);
$b = array_pick($a, array ('d', 'b'));

// now:
// $a = array ('a' => 1, 'c' => '3');
// $b = array ('d' => 4, 'b' => '2');

function &array_pick(&$array, $keys)
{
if (!
is_array($array)) {
trigger_error('First parameter must be an array', E_USER_ERROR);
return
false;
}

if (! (
is_array($keys) || is_scalar($keys))) {
trigger_error('Second parameter must be an array of keys or a scalar key', E_USER_ERROR);
return
false;
}

if (
is_array($keys)) {
// nothing to do
} else if (is_scalar($keys)) {
$keys = array ($keys);
}

$resultArray = array ();
foreach (
$keys as $key) {
if (
is_scalar($key)) {
if (
array_key_exists($key, $array)) {
$resultArray[$key] = $array[$key];
unset(
$array[$key]);
}
} else {
trigger_error('Supplied key is not scalar', E_USER_ERROR);
return
false;
}
}

return
$resultArray;
}

?>
up
-4
delew
13 years ago
just a little tip.
to preserve keys without providing length: use NULL

array_slice($array, $my_offset, NULL, true);
up
-5
SomeGuy
8 years ago
Thank to taylorbarstow here the function with the unset feature.
<?php
function array_slice_assoc(&$array,$keys,$unset = true) {
$return = array_intersect_key($array, array_flip($keys));
if (
$unset) {
foreach (
$keys as $value) {
unset(
$array[$value]);
}
}
return
$return;
}
?>
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