Why doesn't PHP increment array index properly?

Question

Let's say I have this array:

array(12) {
  [0] =>
  array(0) {
  }
  // [...]
  [9] =>
  string(5) "test"
  [10] =>
  array(0) {
  }
  [11] =>
  class stdClass#5 (0) {
  }
}

All items in this array where added like this $a[] = $somevalue.

Now I add another item: $a[] = new Foobar('bar');

However this results in:

array(13) {
  [0] =>
  array(0) {
  }
  // [...]
  [9] =>
  string(5) "test"
  [10] =>
  array(0) {
  }
  [11] =>
  class stdClass#5 (0) {
  }
  [21] =>
  class Foobar#8 (3) {
    protected $id =>
    string(11) "bar"
  }
}

My Foobar object is not $a[12], why? Is there anything I can do such that PHP iterates properly?

Update: I was not able to reproduce this behaviour in a single file. Unfortunately, a whole framework is involved in my code. As I'm only in control of the last statement ($a[] = new Foobar('id');), can I do something before that expression to force PHP to iterate properly?

Cannot reproduce. Are you sure you're not setting & unsetting 12-20? — kero
– kero, Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 14:57
@kingkero The items might be set & unset, is there any way I can reset the counter? — Martin
– Martin, Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 15:04

anon · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-22 15:10:52Z

1

I'm not sure if you mean this, but here it goes: PHP arrays do not have to be indexed in the standard way; If you unset 12-20, the last item (namely 21 will not have its index changed). You can also have strings as keys; it's more like a key-value pair than a standard table you might find in other languages. You can use foreach to iterate over an array.

$a = array(
  0 => 2,
  21 => 30,
  "foo" => "bar"
);

foreach ($a as $val)
{
    echo $val;
    echo "\n";
}

will print:

2
30
bar

answered Feb 22, 2015 at 15:10

anon

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