checking if an array is in an array

Question

I am trying to validate whether or not an array is listed in an array. I am trying to add a product name and url to an session, the session will contain all the products visited by a visitor, but I don't want it to add the same product twice, hence the validation. So if the product is already in the array, I want it to do nothing, but if it doesn't already belong to the array, it needs to be added. This is as far as I got so far. The only issue seems to be the validation.

$viewed_product_url = $viewed_base.$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
if(!isset($_SESSION['products'])) {
$_SESSION['products'] = array('product'=>$products_name,'url'=>$viewed_product_url);
} else {
$found = false;
foreach($_SESSION['products'] as $each_item) {
    while(list($key,$value)=each($each_item)) {
        if($key == 'product' && $value == $products_name) {
            $found = true;
        }
    }
}
if($found==false){
echo 'found';
    $_SESSION['products'][] =    array('product'=>$products_name,'url'=>$viewed_product_url);
}
}

these are the errors I am getting

Warning: Variable passed to each() is not an array or object in C:\xampp\htdocs\customers\msl\product.php on line 10

Warning: Variable passed to each() is not an array or object in C:\xampp\htdocs\customers\msl\product.php on line 10 found

So I just want to know how you can check if an array is already in an multivariate array. Or if there are any other alternatives to achieving what I want here.

You're treating $_SESSION['products'] as a 2-dimensional array. But when you initialize it, it's just a 1-dimensional associative array. — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Jul 2, 2013 at 7:11

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-02 07:16:03Z

1

Change:

$_SESSION['products'] = array('product'=>$products_name,'url'=>$viewed_product_url);

to:

$_SESSION['products'] = array(array('product'=>$products_name,'url'=>$viewed_product_url));

so that you get a 2-dimensional array.

However, I think this is a poor data structure. You should make $_SESSION['products'] an associative array, whose key is the product name. So you add elements to it with:

$_SESSION['products'][$products_name] = $viewed_product_url;

and you find products with:

$found = isset($_SESSION['products'][$products_name]);

answered Jul 2, 2013 at 7:16

Barmar

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Comments

GautamD31 · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-02 07:08:45Z

0

check with is_array like

if(is_array($_SESSION['products']))

and then you can go with foreach

answered Jul 2, 2013 at 7:08

GautamD31

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1 Comment

Elias Van Ootegem Over a year ago

Traversable objects yield false in is_array

martian · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-02 07:10:29Z

0

is_array() function will help you.. http://php.net/manual/en/function.is-array.php

answered Jul 2, 2013 at 7:10

martian

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Comments

Vishnu Sureshkumar · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-02 07:26:01Z

0

$each_item is not an array. That is the reason for the error.

Try this

$viewed_product_url = $viewed_base.$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
if(!isset($_SESSION['products'])) {
$_SESSION['products'] = array('product'=>$products_name,'url'=>$viewed_product_url);
} else {
$found = false;  
if (in_array($viewed_product_url, $_SESSION['products'])) { {
        $found = true;
    }
}
}
if($found==false){
echo 'found';
$_SESSION['products'][] = array('product'=>$products_name,'url'=>$viewed_product_url);

} }

answered Jul 2, 2013 at 7:26

Vishnu Sureshkumar

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