each

Synopsis

Returns

Individual key/value pair from an array; FALSE if the internal array pointer has gone outside the bounds of the array

Description

This function (actually a language construct) returns the key and value of the element of array at which the internal array pointer is currently pointing. The returned array has the following structure:

When complete, each() advances the internal pointer to the next element of array .

Note that while you may be tempted to try something like this, you won't get the expected result:

while (list($key, $value) = each(explode('.', 'This.is.a.test'))) {
   echo "$key => $value\n";
}

The above code snippet leads to an infinite loop, since explode() is called on every call to each() , effectively resetting the array pointer to the beginning of the array that it returns. More correctly, on each call it creates a new array with a new pointer, which is set to the first element of the returned array. For this reason, it's advisable to use each() only on arrays contained within variables.

Version

PHP 3, PHP 4

See also

See also current() , key() , list()

Example

$arr1 = array("name" => "Andrew", "age" => 31, "dob" => "12/09/69");
while (list($key, $val) = each($arr1)) {
   echo "$key => $val\n";
}

Output:
name => Andrew
age => 31
dob => 12/09/69