PHP: is_array - Manual

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class="parameter">value</code></dt> <dd> The variable being evaluated. </dd> </dl> </div> <div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.is-array-returnvalues"> <h3 class="title">Return Values</h3> Returns <code><a href="reserved.constants.php#constant.true">true</a></code> if <code class="parameter">value</code> is an <a href="language.types.array.php" class="type array">array</a>, <code><a href="reserved.constants.php#constant.false">false</a></code> otherwise. </div> <div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.is-array-examples"> <h3 class="title">Examples</h3> <div class="example" id="example-5495"> Example #1 Check that variable is an array <div class="example-contents"> <div class="phpcode"><code><?php $yes = array('this', 'is', 'an array'); echo is_array($yes) ? 'Array' : 'not an Array'; echo "\n"; $no = 'this is a string'; echo is_array($no) ? 'Array' : 'not an Array'; ?></code></div> </div> <div class="example-contents">The above example will output:</div> <div class="example-contents screen"> <div class="examplescode"><pre class="examplescode">Array not an Array</pre> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.is-array-seealso"> <h3 class="title">See Also</h3> <ul class="simplelist"> <li><a href="function.array-is-list.php" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">array_is_list()</a> - Checks whether a given array is a list</li> <li><a href="function.is-float.php" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_float()</a> - Finds whether the type of a variable is float</li> <li><a href="function.is-int.php" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_int()</a> - Find whether the type of a variable is integer</li> <li><a href="function.is-string.php" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_string()</a> - Find whether the type of a variable is string</li> <li><a href="function.is-object.php" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_object()</a> - Finds whether a variable is an object</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="contribute"> <h3 class="title">Found A Problem?</h3> <div> </div> <div class="edit-bug"> <a href="https://github.com/php/doc-base/blob/master/README.md" title="This will take you to our contribution guidelines on GitHub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn How To Improve This Page</a> • <a href="https://github.com/php/doc-en/blob/master/reference/var/functions/is-array.xml">Submit a Pull Request</a> • <a href="https://github.com/php/doc-en/issues/new?body=From%20manual%20page:%20https:%2F%2Fphp.net%2Ffunction.is-array%0A%0A---">Report a Bug</a> </div> </div><section id="usernotes"> <div class="head"> <a href="/manual/add-note.php?sect=function.is-array&repo=en&redirect=https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.is-array.php">＋add a note</a> <h3 class="title">User Contributed Notes 19 notes</h3> </div><div id="allnotes"> <div class="note" id="119990"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu119990"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=119990&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd119990"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=119990&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V119990" title="69% like this..."> 71 </div> </div> <a href="#119990" class="name"> Rob Thomas</a><a class="genanchor" href="#119990"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2016-10-05 10:40">8 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom119990"> <div class="phpcode"><code>Please note that the 'cast to array' check is horrendously out of date. Running that code against PHP 5.6 results in this: is_array : 0.93975400924683 cast, === : 1.2425191402435 So, please use 'is_array', not the horrible casting hack.</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="89332"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu89332"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=89332&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd89332"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=89332&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V89332" title="53% like this..."> 41 </div> </div> <a href="#89332" class="name"> skaimauve at yahoo dot ca</a><a class="genanchor" href="#89332"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2009-03-03 12:12">15 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom89332"> <div class="phpcode"><code>Or you could make use of the array_diff_key and array_key function: <?php function is_assoc($var) { return is_array($var) && array_diff_key($var,array_keys(array_keys($var))); } function test($var) { echo is_assoc($var) ? "I'm an assoc array.\n" : "I'm not an assoc array.\n"; } // an assoc array $a = array("a"=>"aaa","b"=>1,"c"=>true); test($a); // an array $b = array_values($a); test($b); // an object $c = (object)$a; test($c); // other types test($a->a); test($a->b); test($a->c); ?> The above code outputs: I'm an assoc array. I'm not an assoc array. I'm not an assoc array. I'm not an assoc array. I'm not an assoc array. I'm not an assoc array.</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="119847"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu119847"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=119847&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd119847"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=119847&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V119847" title="59% like this..."> 24 </div> </div> <a href="#119847" class="name"> ari at umbrella dot bz</a><a class="genanchor" href="#119847"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2016-09-05 08:34">8 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom119847"> <div class="phpcode"><code>hperrin's results have indeed changed in PHP 7. The opposite is now true, is_array is faster than comparison: is_array : 0.52148389816284 cast, === : 0.84179711341858 Tested 1000000 iterations.</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="84488"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu84488"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=84488&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd84488"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=84488&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V84488" title="52% like this..."> 34 </div> </div> <a href="#84488" class="name"> alex frase</a><a class="genanchor" href="#84488"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2008-07-16 08:05">16 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom84488"> <div class="phpcode"><code>Yet another simpler, faster is_assoc(): <?php function is_assoc($array) { foreach (array_keys($array) as $k => $v) { if ($k !== $v) return true; } return false; } ?> In my tests it runs about twice as fast as Michael/Gabriel's array_reduce() method. (Speaking of which: Gabriel's version doesn't work as written; it reports associative arrays as numeric if only the first key is non-numeric, or if the keys are numeric but ordered backwards. Michael solves this problem by comparing array_reduce() to count(), but that costs another function call; it also works to just compare to -1 instead of 0, and therefore return -1 as the ternary else from the callback).</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="98156"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu98156"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=98156&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd98156"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=98156&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V98156" title="52% like this..."> 33 </div> </div> <a href="#98156" class="name"> hperrin at gmail dot com</a><a class="genanchor" href="#98156"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2010-05-28 10:02">14 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom98156"> <div class="phpcode"><code>I've found a faster way of determining an array. If you use is_array() millions of times, you will notice a *huge* difference. On my machine, this method takes about 1/4 the time of using is_array(). Cast the value to an array, then check (using ===) if it is identical to the original. <?php if ( (array) $unknown !== $unknown ) { echo '$unknown is not an array'; } else { echo '$unknown is an array'; } ?> You can use this script to test the speed of both methods. <pre> What's faster for determining arrays? <?php $count = 1000000; $test = array('im', 'an', 'array'); $test2 = 'im not an array'; $test3 = (object) array('im' => 'not', 'going' => 'to be', 'an' => 'array'); $test4 = 42; // Set this now so the first for loop doesn't do the extra work. $i = $start_time = $end_time = 0; $start_time = microtime(true); for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) { if (!is_array($test) || is_array($test2) || is_array($test3) || is_array($test4)) { echo 'error'; break; } } $end_time = microtime(true); echo 'is_array : '.($end_time - $start_time)."\n"; $start_time = microtime(true); for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) { if (!(array) $test === $test || (array) $test2 === $test2 || (array) $test3 === $test3 || (array) $test4 === $test4) { echo 'error'; break; } } $end_time = microtime(true); echo 'cast, === : '.($end_time - $start_time)."\n"; echo "\nTested $count iterations." ?> </pre> Prints something like: What's faster for determining arrays? is_array : 7.9920151233673 cast, === : 1.8978719711304 Tested 1000000 iterations.</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="86407"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu86407"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=86407&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd86407"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=86407&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V86407" title="53% like this..."> 32 </div> </div> <a href="#86407" class="name"> yousuf at philipz dot com</a><a class="genanchor" href="#86407"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2008-10-16 03:41">16 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom86407"> <div class="phpcode"><code>alex frase's example is fast but elanthis at awesomeplay dot com's example is faster and Ilgar's modification of alex's code is faulty (the part " || $_array[$k] !== $v"). Also, Ilgar's suggestion of giving a false return value when the variable isnt an array is not suitable in my opinion and i think checking if the array is empty would also be a suitable check before the rest of the code runs. So here's the modified (is_vector) version <?php function is_vector( &$array ) { if ( !is_array($array) || empty($array) ) { return -1; } $next = 0; foreach ( $array as $k => $v ) { if ( $k !== $next ) return true; $next++; } return false; } ?> and the modified (alex's is_assoc) version <?php function is_assoc($_array) { if ( !is_array($_array) || empty($array) ) { return -1; } foreach (array_keys($_array) as $k => $v) { if ($k !== $v) { return true; } } return false; } ?></code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="86658"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu86658"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=86658&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd86658"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=86658&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V86658" title="52% like this..."> 29 </div> </div> <a href="#86658" class="name"> jim at akubo dot net</a><a class="genanchor" href="#86658"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2008-10-28 11:02">16 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom86658"> <div class="phpcode"><code>yousef's example was wrong because is_vector returned true instead of false if the key was found here is the fixed version (only 2 lines differ) <?php function is_vector( &$array ) { if ( !is_array($array) || empty($array) ) { return -1; } $next = 0; foreach ( $array as $k => $v ) { if ( $k !== $next ) return false; $next++; } return true; } ?></code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="73505"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu73505"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=73505&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd73505"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=73505&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V73505" title="52% like this..."> 24 </div> </div> <a href="#73505" class="name"> angelo [at] mandato <dot> com</a><a class="genanchor" href="#73505"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2007-02-26 01:32">17 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom73505"> <div class="phpcode"><code>The is_associative_array() and is_sequential_array() functions posted by 'rjg4013 at rit dot edu' are not accurate. The functions fail to recognize indexes that are not in sequence or in order. For example, array(0=>'a', 2=>'b', 1=>'c') and array(0=>'a', 3=>'b', 5=>'c') would be considered as sequential arrays. A true sequential array would be in consecutive order with no gaps in the indices. The following solution utilizes the array_merge properties. If only one array is given and the array is numerically indexed, the keys get re-indexed in a continuous way. The result must match the array passed to it in order to truly be a numerically indexed (sequential) array. Otherwise it can be assumed to be an associative array (something unobtainable in languages such as C). The following functions will work for PHP >= 4. <?php function is_sequential_array($var) { return (array_merge($var) === $var && is_numeric( implode( array_keys( $var ) ) ) ); } function is_assoc_array($var) { return (array_merge($var) !== $var || !is_numeric( implode( array_keys( $var ) ) ) ); } ?> If you are not concerned about the actual order of the indices, you can change the comparison to == and != respectively.</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="115901"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu115901"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=115901&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd115901"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=115901&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V115901" title="56% like this..."> 14 </div> </div> <a href="#115901" class="name"> dmitry dot sushilov at gmail dot com</a><a class="genanchor" href="#115901"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2014-10-12 12:49">10 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom115901"> <div class="phpcode"><code>function is_associate_array($array) { return $array === array_values($array); } or you can add check is_array in functions</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="98305"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu98305"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=98305&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd98305"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=98305&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V98305" title="51% like this..."> 20 </div> </div> <a href="#98305" class="name"> JTS</a><a class="genanchor" href="#98305"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2010-06-08 04:22">14 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom98305"> <div class="phpcode"><code>I would change the order of the comparison, because if it is really an empty array, it is better to stop at that point before doing several 'cpu & memory intensive' function calls. In the end on a ratio of 3 not empty arrays to 1 empty array computed for 1000000 iterations it needed 10% less time. Or the other way round: It needed approx 3% to 4% more time if the array is not empty, but was at least 4 times faster on empty arrays. Additionally the memory consumption veritably lesser. <?php function is_assoc($array) { return (is_array($array) && (count($array)==0 || 0 !== count(array_diff_key($array, array_keys(array_keys($array))) ))); } ?></code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="77744"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu77744"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=77744&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd77744"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=77744&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V77744" title="51% like this..."> 20 </div> </div> <a href="#77744" class="name"> Michael</a><a class="genanchor" href="#77744"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2007-09-11 12:37">17 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom77744"> <div class="phpcode"><code>A slight modification of what's below: <?php function is_assoc($array) { return is_array($array) && count($array) !== array_reduce(array_keys($array), 'is_assoc_callback', 0); } function is_assoc_callback($a, $b) { return $a === $b ? $a + 1 : 0; } ?></code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="122535"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu122535"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=122535&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd122535"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=122535&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V122535" title="57% like this..."> 6 </div> </div> <a href="#122535" class="name"> gwschnell at ewe dot net</a><a class="genanchor" href="#122535"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2018-03-22 04:58">6 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom122535"> <div class="phpcode"><code>An error will be thrown If is_array() is applied to a nonexisting varble.</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="63780"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu63780"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=63780&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd63780"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=63780&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V63780" title="51% like this..."> 19 </div> </div> <a href="#63780" class="name"> March</a><a class="genanchor" href="#63780"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2006-03-30 06:28">18 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom63780"> <div class="phpcode"><code>And here is another variation for a function to test if an array is associative. Based on the idea by mot4h. <?php function is_associative($array) { if (!is_array($array) || empty($array)) return false; $keys = array_keys($array); return array_keys($keys) !== $keys; } ?></code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="122613"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu122613"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=122613&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd122613"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=122613&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V122613" title="57% like this..."> 5 </div> </div> <a href="#122613" class="name"> rik at mmod dot co</a><a class="genanchor" href="#122613"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2018-04-12 05:39">6 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom122613"> <div class="phpcode"><code>Using is_array prior to an in_array within an if clause will safely escape a check against a variable that could potentially be a non-array when using in_array. For instance: NOTE: A real use case might be that we have a list of possible flags which in a database we have stored whether each of the flags are 0 or 1. We want a list of the flags which have the value of 1 to be returned. Our example here will not use so many technical artifacts, but will be based on similar logic just to get the point across. <?php // We have a list of known values $knownVars = ['apple', 'orange']; // A list of values to check $listToCheck = ['pear', 'banana']; // And a method that takes a list of values to check and returns a new list // of the items from said list that are found to be valid... public function getValidItemsList( $listToCheck /*['pear', 'banana']*/) { $returnList = []; foreach($listToCheck as $key => $val) { if(in_array($val, $knownVars)) { array_push($returnList, $val); } } if(empty($returnList)) { // We have a special case if there were no valid items found, which is the case we are going over return -1; } // Otherwise, normally returns a list of the items that were found to be valid return $returnList; } // Call the method and check for any valid items that can be used for some purpose $validItemsList = getValidItemsList($listToCheck); // In this usage we could potentially get an exception because // in_array() expects an array for argument #2, checking that the value != -1 does not escape the if statement: if(isset($validItemsList) && $validItemsList != -1 && in_array('apple', $validItemsList)) { //... } // In this usage, we break free from the if statement safely: if(isset($validItemsList) && $validItemsList != -1 && is_array($validItemsList) && in_array('apple', $validItemsList)) { //... } ?> Hope that can help someone, I know it helped me.</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="122719"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu122719"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=122719&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd122719"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=122719&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V122719" title="55% like this..."> 4 </div> </div> <a href="#122719" class="name"> lrgbx0 at gmail dot com</a><a class="genanchor" href="#122719"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2018-05-10 08:48">6 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom122719"> <div class="phpcode"><code>is_assoc() Benchmark: <?php function is_assoc1($array) { if (!is_array($array)) return false; $i = count($array); while ($i > 0) unset($array[--$i]); return (bool)$array; } function is_assoc2(&$array) { if (!is_array($array)) return false; $i = count($array); while ($i > 0) { if (!isset($array[--$i])) return true; } return false; } function is_assoc3(&$array) { if (!is_array($array)) return false; $i = count($array); while ($i > 0) { if (!array_key_exists(--$i, $array)) return true; } return false; } function is_assoc4($array) { if (!is_array($array)) return false; ksort($array); foreach (array_keys($array) as $k => $v) { if ($k !== $v) return true; } return false; } function is_assoc5(&$array) { return is_array($array) && array_diff_key($array, array_keys($array)); } $arr1 = array(); // not associative $arr2 = $arr3 = array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'foo'); // not associative asort($arr3); // not associative, shuffled keys $arr4 = array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'foo', 'bar', null, 'foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'foo'); // not associative but is_assoc2() thinks it is $arr5 = array(0 => 'foo', 1 => 'bar', 2 => 'baz', 3 => 'foo', 4 => 'bar', 5 => 'baz', 'foo3' => 'foo', 'bar3' => 'bar', 'baz3' => 'baz', 'foo4' => 'foo'); // associative $i = $j = 0; $time = array(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0); for ($j = 0; $j < 2000; $j++) { $time[0] -= microtime(true); for ($i = 0; $i < 1000; $i++) { if (is_assoc1($arr1) || is_assoc1($arr2) || is_assoc1($arr3) || is_assoc1($arr4) || !is_assoc1($arr5)) { echo 'error'; break; } } $time[0] += microtime(true); $time[1] -= microtime(true); for ($i = 0; $i < 1000; $i++) { if (is_assoc2($arr1) || is_assoc2($arr2) || is_assoc2($arr3) || !is_assoc2($arr4) || !is_assoc2($arr5)) { // $arr4 tweaked echo 'error'; break; } } $time[1] += microtime(true); $time[2] -= microtime(true); for ($i = 0; $i < 1000; $i++) { if (is_assoc3($arr1) || is_assoc3($arr2) || is_assoc3($arr3) || is_assoc3($arr4) || !is_assoc3($arr5)) { echo 'error'; break; } } $time[2] += microtime(true); $time[3] -= microtime(true); for ($i = 0; $i < 1000; $i++) { if (is_assoc4($arr1) || is_assoc4($arr2) || is_assoc4($arr3) || is_assoc4($arr4) || !is_assoc4($arr5)) { echo 'error'; break; } } $time[3] += microtime(true); $time[4] -= microtime(true); for ($i = 0; $i < 1000; $i++) { if (is_assoc5($arr1) || is_assoc5($arr2) || is_assoc5($arr3) || is_assoc5($arr4) || !is_assoc5($arr5)) { echo 'error'; break; } } $time[4] += microtime(true); } echo 'is_assoc1(): ' . $time[0] . "\n"; echo 'is_assoc2(): ' . $time[1] . "\n"; echo 'is_assoc3(): ' . $time[2] . "\n"; echo 'is_assoc4(): ' . $time[3] . "\n"; echo 'is_assoc5(): ' . $time[4] . "\n"; ?> is_assoc1() - uses unset(), a bit slow, but mem friendly and no function calls is_assoc2() - uses isset(), fastest one, but returns TRUE whenever array contains NULL is_assoc3() - fixed is_assoc2(), uses array_key_exists(), fast and memory friendly, and much smarter than the following (no need to check all those keys) is_assoc4() - alex' version with proper check and key sorting is_assoc5() - fixed a bit JTS' version, really nice one, but uses too many functions and checks all keys Results: is_assoc1(): 2.1628699302673 is_assoc2(): 1.1079933643341 is_assoc3(): 1.7120850086212 is_assoc4(): 3.9194552898407 is_assoc5(): 1.9509885311127</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="90929"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu90929"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=90929&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd90929"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=90929&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V90929" title="51% like this..."> 11 </div> </div> <a href="#90929" class="name"> Anonymous</a><a class="genanchor" href="#90929"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2009-05-16 02:18">15 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom90929"> <div class="phpcode"><code>Using empty() in the previous example posted by Anonymous will result in a "Fatal error: Can't use function return value in write context". I suggest using count() instead: <?php function is_assoc($array) { return (is_array($array) && 0 !== count(array_diff_key($array, array_keys(array_keys($array))))); } ?></code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="119784"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu119784"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=119784&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd119784"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=119784&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V119784" title="53% like this..."> 3 </div> </div> <a href="#119784" class="name"> mbrodala at pagemachine dot de</a><a class="genanchor" href="#119784"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2016-08-24 01:22">8 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom119784"> <div class="phpcode"><code>Notice that the benchmark results from hperrin at gmail dot com have changed in the meantime: is_array : 0.31888604164124 cast, === : 0.58448791503906 (Using PHP 5.6.24, I expect other results with PHP 7)</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="124039"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu124039"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=124039&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd124039"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=124039&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V124039" title="50% like this..."> 0 </div> </div> <a href="#124039" class="name"> Daniel</a><a class="genanchor" href="#124039"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2019-07-14 06:54">5 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom124039"> <div class="phpcode"><code>The next post is not correct because has problems with blank array index: <a href="https://www.php.net/manual/es/function.is-array.php#89332" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.php.net/manual/es/function.is-array.php#89332</a> The next code use the above link php code <?php function is_assoc($var) { return is_array($var) && array_diff_key($var,array_keys(array_keys($var))); } function test($var) { echo is_assoc($var) ? "I'm an assoc array.\n" : "I'm not an assoc array.\n"; } // an assoc array $a = array("a"=>"aaa","b"=>1,"c"=>true); test($a); // maybe assoc array? $b = array(0 => "aaa", 1 => 1, 3 => true); // Index 2 not exist test($b); ?> # Output I'm an assoc array. I'm an assoc array. "Associative arrays are arrays that use named keys that you assign to them." <a href="https://www.w3schools.com/php/php_arrays.asp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.w3schools.com/php/php_arrays.asp</a> Solution: <?php function is_assoc(array $array) { return count(array_filter(array_keys($array), 'is_string')) > 0; } function test(array $array) { echo is_assoc($array) ? "I'm an assoc array.\n" : "I'm not an assoc array.\n"; } // an assoc array $a = array("a"=>"aaa","b"=>1,"c"=>true); test($a); // an array $b = array(0=>"aaa",1=>1,3=>true); test($b); ?> # Output I'm an assoc array. I'm not an assoc array. If you want check pure assoc. array replace > 0 by === count($array)</code></div> </div> </div> <div class="note" id="66811"> <div class="votes"> <div id="Vu66811"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=66811&page=function.is-array&vote=up" title="Vote up!" class="usernotes-voteu">up</a> </div> <div id="Vd66811"> <a href="/manual/vote-note.php?id=66811&page=function.is-array&vote=down" title="Vote down!" class="usernotes-voted">down</a> </div> <div class="tally" id="V66811" title="50% like this..."> 2 </div> </div> <a href="#66811" class="name"> jupiter at nospam dot com</a><a class="genanchor" href="#66811"> ¶</a><div class="date" title="2006-05-29 11:42">18 years ago</div> <div class="text" id="Hcom66811"> <div class="phpcode"><code>Will check a Multi-Dimentional Array to any specified level. This is a fix to 11/16/05 submission, which would break since you must supply a foreach with an array. Beware recursive functions shouldn't go over 100 deep or could break the memory stack on server. <?php // checks for multiarray to defined depth level recursively // original $level must be 2 or more, else will instantly return true function isDeepMultiArray($multiarray, $level = 2) { // default is simple multiarray if (is_array($multiarray)) { // confirms array if ($level == 1) { // $level reaches 1 after specified # of recursions return true; // returns true to recursive function conditional } // end conditional foreach ($multiarray as $array) { // goes one level deeper into array if (isDeepMultiArray($array, $level - 1)) { // check subarray $message = "I'm a multiarray"; // optional message return $message; // best if $message = true so function returns boolean } // end recursive function } // end loop } else { // not an array at specified level return false; // is also used recursively so can't change to message } } if (isDeepMultiArray(array(array()), 2)); // beware this returns true eventhough arrays are empty ?> BTW my notation is consistent with the PEAR manual on coding standards, which is what php.net says to follow. 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