<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <title>Checks if the given key or index exists in the array</title> </head> <body><div class="manualnavbar" style="text-align: center;"> <div class="prev" style="text-align: left; float: left;"><a href="function.array-intersect.html">array_intersect</a></div> <div class="next" style="text-align: right; float: right;"><a href="function.array-keys.html">array_keys</a></div> <div class="up"><a href="ref.array.html">Array Functions</a></div> <div class="home"><a href="index.html">PHP Manual</a></div> </div><hr /><div id="function.array-key-exists" class="refentry"> <div class="refnamediv"> <h1 class="refname">array_key_exists</h1> <p class="verinfo">(PHP 4 >= 4.0.7, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">array_key_exists</span> — <span class="dc-title">Checks if the given key or index exists in the array</span></p> </div> <div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.array-key-exists-description"> <h3 class="title">Description</h3> <div class="methodsynopsis dc-description"> <span class="type">bool</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>array_key_exists</strong></span> ( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <code class="parameter">$key</code></span> , <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">array</span> <code class="parameter">$array</code></span> )</div> <p class="para rdfs-comment"> <span class="function"><strong>array_key_exists()</strong></span> returns <strong><code>TRUE</code></strong> if the given <em><code class="parameter">key</code></em> is set in the array. <em><code class="parameter">key</code></em> can be any value possible for an array index. </p> </div> <div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.array-key-exists-parameters"> <h3 class="title">Parameters</h3> <p class="para"> <dl> <dt> <span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">key</code></em></span> <dd> <p class="para"> Value to check. </p> </dd> </dt> <dt> <span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">array</code></em></span> <dd> <p class="para"> An array with keys to check. </p> </dd> </dt> </dl> </p> </div> <div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.array-key-exists-returnvalues"> <h3 class="title">Return Values</h3> <p class="para"> Returns <strong><code>TRUE</code></strong> on success or <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> on failure. </p> </div> <div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.array-key-exists-examples"> <h3 class="title">Examples</h3> <p class="para"> <div class="example" id="example-4954"> <p><strong>Example #1 <span class="function"><strong>array_key_exists()</strong></span> example</strong></p> <div class="example-contents"> <div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000"> <span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$search_array </span><span style="color: #007700">= array(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'first' </span><span style="color: #007700">=> </span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'second' </span><span style="color: #007700">=> </span><span style="color: #0000BB">4</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br />if (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">array_key_exists</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'first'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$search_array</span><span style="color: #007700">)) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"The 'first' element is in the array"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />}<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span> </span> </code></div> </div> </div> </p> <div class="example" id="example-4955"> <p><strong>Example #2 <span class="function"><strong>array_key_exists()</strong></span> vs <span class="function"><a href="function.isset.html" class="function">isset()</a></span></strong></p> <div class="example-contents"><p> <span class="function"><a href="function.isset.html" class="function">isset()</a></span> does not return <strong><code>TRUE</code></strong> for array keys that correspond to a <strong><code>NULL</code></strong> value, while <span class="function"><strong>array_key_exists()</strong></span> does. </p></div> <div class="example-contents"> <div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000"> <span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$search_array </span><span style="color: #007700">= array(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'first' </span><span style="color: #007700">=> </span><span style="color: #0000BB">null</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'second' </span><span style="color: #007700">=> </span><span style="color: #0000BB">4</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// returns false<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">isset(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$search_array</span><span style="color: #007700">[</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'first'</span><span style="color: #007700">]);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// returns true<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">array_key_exists</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'first'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$search_array</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span> </span> </code></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-function.array-key-exists-notes"> <h3 class="title">Notes</h3> <blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>: <p class="para"> For backward compatibility, the following deprecated alias may be used: <span class="function"><a href="function.key-exists.html" class="function">key_exists()</a></span> </p> </p></blockquote> <blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>: <p class="para"> For backward compatibility reasons, <span class="function"><strong>array_key_exists()</strong></span> will also return <strong><code>TRUE</code></strong> if <em><code class="parameter">key</code></em> is a property defined within an <span class="type"><a href="language.types.object.html" class="type object">object</a></span> given as <em><code class="parameter">array</code></em>. This behaviour should not be relied upon, and care should be taken to ensure that <em><code class="parameter">array</code></em> is an <span class="type"><a href="language.types.array.html" class="type array">array</a></span>. </p> <p class="para"> To check whether a property exists in an object, use <span class="function"><a href="function.property-exists.html" class="function">property_exists()</a></span>. </p> </p></blockquote> </div> <div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.array-key-exists-seealso"> <h3 class="title">See Also</h3> <p class="para"> <ul class="simplelist"> <li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.isset.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">isset()</a> - Determine if a variable is set and is not NULL</span></li> <li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.array-keys.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">array_keys()</a> - Return all the keys or a subset of the keys of an array</span></li> <li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.in-array.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">in_array()</a> - Checks if a value exists in an array</span></li> <li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.property-exists.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">property_exists()</a> - Checks if the object or class has a property</span></li> </ul> </p> </div> </div><hr /><div class="manualnavbar" style="text-align: center;"> <div class="prev" style="text-align: left; float: left;"><a href="function.array-intersect.html">array_intersect</a></div> <div class="next" style="text-align: right; float: right;"><a href="function.array-keys.html">array_keys</a></div> <div class="up"><a href="ref.array.html">Array Functions</a></div> <div class="home"><a href="index.html">PHP Manual</a></div> </div></body></html>