PHP Delete Array Items
Remove Array Item
To remove an existing item from an array, you can use the array_splice()
function.
With the array_splice()
function you specify the index (where to start)
and how many items you want to delete.
Example
Remove the second item:
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
array_splice($cars, 1, 1);
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After the deletion, the array gets reindexed automatically, starting at index 0.
Using the unset Function
You can also use the unset()
function to delete existing array items.
Note: The unset()
function does not re-arrange the indexes,
meaning that after deletion the array will no longer contain the missing indexes.
Example
Remove the second item:
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
unset($cars[1]);
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Remove Multiple Array Items
To remove multiple items, the array_splice()
function takes a length parameter
that allows you to specify the number of items to delete.
Example
Remove 2 items, starting a the second item (index 1):
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
array_splice($cars, 1, 2);
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The unset()
function takes a unlimited number of arguments, and
can therefore be used to delete multiple array items:
Example
Remove the first and the second item:
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
unset($cars[0], $cars[1]);
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Remove Item From an Associative Array
To remove items from an associative array, you can use the unset()
function.
Specify the key of the item you want to delete.
Example
Remove the "model":
$cars = array("brand" => "Ford", "model" => "Mustang", "year" => 1964);
unset($cars["model"]);
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Using the array_diff Function
You can also use the array_diff()
function to remove items from an
associative array.
This function returns a new array, without the specified items.
Example
Create a new array, without "Mustang" and "1964":
$cars = array("brand" => "Ford", "model" => "Mustang", "year" => 1964);
$newarray = array_diff($cars, ["Mustang", 1964]);
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Note: The array_diff()
function takes
values as parameters, and not keys.
Remove the Last Item
The array_pop()
function removes the last item of an array.
Example
Remove the last item:
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
array_pop($cars);
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Remove the First Item
The array_shift()
function removes the first item of an array.
Example
Remove the first item:
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
array_shift($cars);
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