parent root
PHP: array_column - Manual
PHP 7.2.23 Release Announcement

array_column

(PHP 5 >= 5.5.0, PHP 7)

array_columnReturn the values from a single column in the input array

Description

array_column ( array $input , mixed $column_key [, mixed $index_key = NULL ] ) : array

array_column() returns the values from a single column of the input, identified by the column_key. Optionally, an index_key may be provided to index the values in the returned array by the values from the index_key column of the input array.

Parameters

input

A multi-dimensional array or an array of objects from which to pull a column of values from. If an array of objects is provided, then public properties can be directly pulled. In order for protected or private properties to be pulled, the class must implement both the __get() and __isset() magic methods.

column_key

The column of values to return. This value may be an integer key of the column you wish to retrieve, or it may be a string key name for an associative array or property name. It may also be NULL to return complete arrays or objects (this is useful together with index_key to reindex the array).

index_key

The column to use as the index/keys for the returned array. This value may be the integer key of the column, or it may be the string key name. The value is cast as usual for array keys (however, objects supporting conversion to string are also allowed).

Return Values

Returns an array of values representing a single column from the input array.

Changelog

Version Description
7.0.0 Added the ability for the input parameter to be an array of objects.

Examples

Example #1 Get the column of first names from a recordset

<?php
// Array representing a possible record set returned from a database
$records = array(
    array(
        
'id' => 2135,
        
'first_name' => 'John',
        
'last_name' => 'Doe',
    ),
    array(
        
'id' => 3245,
        
'first_name' => 'Sally',
        
'last_name' => 'Smith',
    ),
    array(
        
'id' => 5342,
        
'first_name' => 'Jane',
        
'last_name' => 'Jones',
    ),
    array(
        
'id' => 5623,
        
'first_name' => 'Peter',
        
'last_name' => 'Doe',
    )
);
 
$first_names array_column($records'first_name');
print_r($first_names);
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [0] => John
    [1] => Sally
    [2] => Jane
    [3] => Peter
)

Example #2 Get the column of last names from a recordset, indexed by the "id" column

<?php
// Using the $records array from Example #1
$last_names array_column($records'last_name''id');
print_r($last_names);
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [2135] => Doe
    [3245] => Smith
    [5342] => Jones
    [5623] => Doe
)

Example #3 Get the column of usernames from the public "username" property of an object

<?php

class User
{
    public 
$username;

    public function 
__construct(string $username)
    {
        
$this->username $username;
    }
}

$users = [
    new 
User('user 1'),
    new 
User('user 2'),
    new 
User('user 3'),
];

print_r(array_column($users'username'));
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [0] => user 1
    [1] => user 2
    [2] => user 3
)

Example #4 Get the column of names from the private "name" property of an object using the magic __get() method.

<?php

class Person
{
    private 
$name;

    public function 
__construct(string $name)
    {
        
$this->name $name;
    }

    public function 
__get($prop)
    {
        return 
$this->$prop;
    }

    public function 
__isset($prop) : bool
    
{
        return isset(
$this->$prop);
    }
}

$people = [
    new 
Person('Fred'),
    new 
Person('Jane'),
    new 
Person('John'),
];

print_r(array_column($people'name'));
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [0] => Fred
    [1] => Jane
    [2] => John
)
If __isset() is not provided, then an empty array will be returned.
add a noteadd a note

User Contributed Notes 24 notes

up
93
mohanrajnr at gmail dot com
4 years ago
if array_column does not exist the below solution will work.

if(!function_exists("array_column"))
{

    function array_column($array,$column_name)
    {

        return array_map(function($element) use($column_name){return $element[$column_name];}, $array);

    }

}
up
55
WARrior
5 years ago
You can also use array_map fucntion if you haven't array_column().

example:

$a = array(
    array(
        'id' => 2135,
        'first_name' => 'John',
        'last_name' => 'Doe',
    ),
    array(
        'id' => 3245,
        'first_name' => 'Sally',
        'last_name' => 'Smith',
    )
);

array_column($a, 'last_name');

becomes

array_map(function($element){return $element['last_name'];}, $a);
up
9
balbuf
1 year ago
This function does not preserve the original keys of the array (when not providing an index_key).

You can work around that like so:

<?php
// instead of
array_column($array, 'column');

// to preserve keys
array_combine(array_keys($array), array_column($array, 'column'));
?>
up
2
ff2 AT hotmail DOT co DOT uk
1 year ago
Because the function was not available in my version of PHP, I wrote my own version and extended it a little based on my needs.

When you give an $indexkey value of -1 it preserves the associated array key values.

EXAMPLE:

$sample = array(
    'test1' => array(
        'val1' = 10,
        'val2' = 100
    ),
    'test2' => array(
        'val1' = 20,
        'val2' = 200
    ),
    'test3' => array(
        'val1' = 30,
        'val2' = 300
    )
);

print_r(array_column_ext($sample,'val1'));

OUTPUT:

Array
(
    [0] => 10
    [1] => 20
    [2] => 30
)

print_r(array_column_ext($sample,'val1',-1));

OUTPUT:

Array
(
    ['test1'] => 10
    ['test2'] => 20
    ['test3'] => 30
)

print_r(array_column_ext($sample,'val1','val2'));

OUTPUT:

Array
(
    [100] => 10
    [200] => 20
    [300] => 30
)

<?php
function array_column_ext($array, $columnkey, $indexkey = null) {
   
$result = array();
    foreach (
$array as $subarray => $value) {
        if (
array_key_exists($columnkey,$value)) { $val = $array[$subarray][$columnkey]; }
        else if (
$columnkey === null) { $val = $value; }
        else { continue; }
           
        if (
$indexkey === null) { $result[] = $val; }
        elseif (
$indexkey == -1 || array_key_exists($indexkey,$value)) {
           
$result[($indexkey == -1)?$subarray:$array[$subarray][$indexkey]] = $val;
        }
    }
    return
$result;
}
?>
up
18
till at etill dot net
4 years ago
Some remarks not included in the official documentation.

1) array_column does not support 1D arrays, in which case an empty array is returned.

2) The $column_key is zero-based.

3) If $column_key extends the valid index range an empty array is returned.
up
6
miguelfzarth at gmail dot com
3 years ago
<?php
# for PHP < 5.5
# AND it works with arrayObject AND array of objects

if (!function_exists('array_column')) {
    function
array_column($array, $columnKey, $indexKey = null)
    {
       
$result = array();
        foreach (
$array as $subArray) {
            if (
is_null($indexKey) && array_key_exists($columnKey, $subArray)) {
               
$result[] = is_object($subArray)?$subArray->$columnKey: $subArray[$columnKey];
            } elseif (
array_key_exists($indexKey, $subArray)) {
                if (
is_null($columnKey)) {
                   
$index = is_object($subArray)?$subArray->$indexKey: $subArray[$indexKey];
                   
$result[$index] = $subArray;
                } elseif (
array_key_exists($columnKey, $subArray)) {
                   
$index = is_object($subArray)?$subArray->$indexKey: $subArray[$indexKey];
                   
$result[$index] = is_object($subArray)?$subArray->$columnKey: $subArray[$columnKey];
                }
            }
        }
        return
$result;
    }
}
?>
up
5
nino at recgr dot com
3 years ago
array_column implementation that works on multidimensional arrays (not just 2-dimensional):

<?php
function array_column_recursive(array $haystack, $needle) {
   
$found = [];
   
array_walk_recursive($haystack, function($value, $key) use (&$found, $needle) {
        if (
$key == $needle)
           
$found[] = $value;
    });
    return
$found;
}

Taken from https://github.com/NinoSkopac/array_column_recursive
up
2
katrinaelaine6 at gmail dot com
2 years ago
array_column() will return duplicate values.

Instead of having to use array_unique(), use the $index_key as a hack.

**Caution: This may get messy when setting the $column_key and/or $index_key as integers.**

<?php

$records
= [
        [
'id' => 2135, 'first_name' => 'John' ],
    [
'id' => 3245, 'first_name' => 'Sally' ],
    [
'id' => 5342, 'first_name' => 'Jane' ],
    [
'id' => 5623, 'first_name' => 'Peter' ],
        [
'id' => 6982, 'first_name' => 'Sally' ]
];

print_r(array_unique(array_column($records, 'first_name')));

// Force uniqueness by making the key the value.
print_r(array_column($records, 'first_name', 'first_name'));
print_r(array_column($records, 'id', 'first_name'));

// Returns
/*

Array
(
    [0] => John
    [1] => Sally
    [2] => Jane
    [3] => Peter
)

Array
(
    [John] => John
    [Sally] => Sally
    [Jane] => Jane
    [Peter] => Peter
)

Array
(
    [John] => 2135
    [Sally] => 6982
    [Jane] => 5342
    [Peter] => 5623
)

*/

?>
up
2
Carlos Granados
3 years ago
Here's a neat little snippet for filtering a set of records based on a the value of a column:

<?php

function dictionaryFilterList(array $source, array $data, string $column) : array
{
   
$new     = array_column($data, $column);
   
$keep     = array_diff($new, $source);

    return
array_intersect_key($data, $keep);
}

// Usage:

$users = [
    [
'first_name' => 'Jed', 'last_name' => 'Lopez'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Carlos', 'last_name' => 'Granados'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Dirty', 'last_name' => 'Diana'],
    [
'first_name' => 'John', 'last_name' => 'Williams'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Betty', 'last_name' => 'Boop'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Dan', 'last_name' => 'Daniels'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Britt', 'last_name' => 'Anderson'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Will', 'last_name' => 'Smith'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Magic', 'last_name' => 'Johnson'],
];

var_dump(dictionaryFilterList(['Dirty', 'Dan'], $users, 'first_name'));

// Outputs:
[
    [
'first_name' => 'Jed', 'last_name' => 'Lopez'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Carlos', 'last_name' => 'Granados'],
    [
'first_name' => 'John', 'last_name' => 'Williams'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Betty', 'last_name' => 'Boop'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Britt', 'last_name' => 'Anderson'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Will', 'last_name' => 'Smith'],
    [
'first_name' => 'Magic', 'last_name' => 'Johnson']
]

?>
up
2
antonfedonjuk at gmail dot com
4 years ago
My version is closer to the original than http://github.com/ramsey/array_column
<?php
/**
* Provides functionality for array_column() to projects using PHP earlier than
* version 5.5.
* @copyright (c) 2015 WinterSilence (http://github.com/WinterSilence)
* @license MIT
*/
if (!function_exists('array_column')) {
   
/**
     * Returns an array of values representing a single column from the input
     * array.
     * @param array $array A multi-dimensional array from which to pull a
     *     column of values.
     * @param mixed $columnKey The column of values to return. This value may
     *     be the integer key of the column you wish to retrieve, or it may be
     *     the string key name for an associative array. It may also be NULL to
     *     return complete arrays (useful together with index_key to reindex
     *     the array).
     * @param mixed $indexKey The column to use as the index/keys for the
     *     returned array. This value may be the integer key of the column, or
     *     it may be the string key name.
     * @return array
     */
   
function array_column(array $array, $columnKey, $indexKey = null)
    {
       
$result = array();
        foreach (
$array as $subArray) {
            if (!
is_array($subArray)) {
                continue;
            } elseif (
is_null($indexKey) && array_key_exists($columnKey, $subArray)) {
               
$result[] = $subArray[$columnKey];
            } elseif (
array_key_exists($indexKey, $subArray)) {
                if (
is_null($columnKey)) {
                   
$result[$subArray[$indexKey]] = $subArray;
                } elseif (
array_key_exists($columnKey, $subArray)) {
                   
$result[$subArray[$indexKey]] = $subArray[$columnKey];
                }
            }
        }
        return
$result;
    }
}
?>
up
1
kaspar dot wilbuer at web dot de
3 years ago
If you need to extract more than one column from an array, you can use array_intersect_key on each element, like so:

function array_column_multi(array $input, array $column_keys) {
    $result = array();
    $column_keys = array_flip($column_keys);
    foreach($input as $key => $el) {
        $result[$key] = array_intersect_key($el, $column_keys);
    }
    return $result;
}
up
1
Anonymous
3 years ago
I added a little more functionality to the more popular answers here to support the $index_key parameter for PHP < 5.5

<?php
// for php < 5.5
if (!function_exists('array_column')) {
    function
array_column($input, $column_key, $index_key = null) {
       
$arr = array_map(function($d) use ($column_key, $index_key) {
            if (!isset(
$d[$column_key])) {
                return
null;
            }
            if (
$index_key !== null) {
                return array(
$d[$index_key] => $d[$column_key]);
            }
            return
$d[$column_key];
        },
$input);

        if (
$index_key !== null) {
           
$tmp = array();
            foreach (
$arr as $ar) {
               
$tmp[key($ar)] = current($ar);
            }
           
$arr = $tmp;
        }
        return
$arr;
    }
}
?>
up
-1
1184427175 at qq dot com
2 years ago
//php < 5.5
if(function_exists('array_column'))
{
    function array_column($arr_data, $col)
    {
        $result = array_map(function($arr){return $arr[$col]}, $arr_data);
        return $result;
    }
}
up
-2
Nolan chou
3 years ago
if (!function_exists('array_column'))
{
    function array_column($input, $column_key=null, $index_key=null)
    {
        $result = array();
        $i = 0;
        foreach ($input as $v)
        {
            $k = $index_key === null || !isset($v[$index_key]) ? $i++ : $v[$index_key];
            $result[$k] = $column_key === null ? $v : (isset($v[$column_key]) ? $v[$column_key] : null);
        }
        return $result;
    }
}
up
-7
kiler129 @ nowhere
4 years ago
Please note this function accepts 2D-arrays ONLY, and silently returns empty array when non-array argument is provided.

Code:
class testObject {
    public $a = 123;
}
$testArray = [new testObject(), new testObject(), new testObject()];
$result = array_column($testArray, 'a')); //array(0) { }
up
-3
benjam
3 years ago
Note that this function will return the last entry when possible keys are duplicated.

<?php

$array
= array(
    array(
       
'1-1',
       
'one',
       
'one',
    ),
    array(
       
'1-2',
       
'two',
       
'one',
    ),
);

var_dump(array_column($array, $value = 0, $index = 1));
var_dump(array_column($array, $value = 0, $index = 2));

// returns:
/*

array (size=2)
  'one' => string '1-1' (length=3)
  'two' => string '1-2' (length=3)

array (size=1)
  'one' => string '1-2' (length=3)

*/
?>
up
-6
hypxm at qq dot com
4 years ago
a simple solution:

function arrayColumn(array $array, $column_key, $index_key=null){
        if(function_exists('array_column ')){
            return array_column($array, $column_key, $index_key);
        }
        $result = [];
        foreach($array as $arr){
            if(!is_array($arr)) continue;

            if(is_null($column_key)){
                $value = $arr;
            }else{
                $value = $arr[$column_key];
            }

            if(!is_null($index_key)){
                $key = $arr[$index_key];
                $result[$key] = $value;
            }else{
                $result[] = $value;
            }

        }

        return $result;
    }
up
-5
marianbucur17 at yahoo dot com
4 years ago
If array_column is not available you can use the following function, which also has the $index_key parameter:

if (!function_exists('array_column')) {
    function array_column($array, $column_key, $index_key = null)
    {
        return array_reduce($array, function ($result, $item) use ($column_key, $index_key)
        {
            if (null === $index_key) {
                $result[] = $item[$column_key];
            } else {
                $result[$item[$index_key]] = $item[$column_key];
            }

            return $result;
        }, []);
    }
}
up
-9
robbieaverill[at]gmail.com
4 years ago
Another option for older PHP versions (pre 5.5.0) is to use array_walk():

<?php
$array
= array(
  array(
'some' => 'var', 'foo' => 'bar'),
  array(
'some' => 'var', 'foo' => 'bar'),
  array(
'some' => 'var', 'foo' => 'bar')
);

array_walk($array, function(&$value, $key, $return) {
 
$value = $value[$return];
},
'foo');

print_r($array);

// Array
// (
//     [0] => bar
//     [1] => bar
//     [2] => bar
// )

?>
up
-14
myles at smyl dot es
4 years ago
This didn't work for me recursively and needed to come up with a solution.

Here's my solution to the function:

if ( ! function_exists( 'array_column_recursive' ) ) {
    /**
     * Returns the values recursively from columns of the input array, identified by
     * the $columnKey.
     *
     * Optionally, you may provide an $indexKey to index the values in the returned
     * array by the values from the $indexKey column in the input array.
     *
     * @param array $input     A multi-dimensional array (record set) from which to pull
     *                         a column of values.
     * @param mixed $columnKey The column of values to return. This value may be the
     *                         integer key of the column you wish to retrieve, or it
     *                         may be the string key name for an associative array.
     * @param mixed $indexKey  (Optional.) The column to use as the index/keys for
     *                         the returned array. This value may be the integer key
     *                         of the column, or it may be the string key name.
     *
     * @return array
     */
    function array_column_recursive( $input = NULL, $columnKey = NULL, $indexKey = NULL ) {

        // Using func_get_args() in order to check for proper number of
        // parameters and trigger errors exactly as the built-in array_column()
        // does in PHP 5.5.
        $argc   = func_num_args();
        $params = func_get_args();
        if ( $argc < 2 ) {
            trigger_error( "array_column_recursive() expects at least 2 parameters, {$argc} given", E_USER_WARNING );

            return NULL;
        }
        if ( ! is_array( $params[ 0 ] ) ) {
            // Because we call back to this function, check if call was made by self to
            // prevent debug/error output for recursiveness :)
            $callers = debug_backtrace();
            if ( $callers[ 1 ][ 'function' ] != 'array_column_recursive' ){
                trigger_error( 'array_column_recursive() expects parameter 1 to be array, ' . gettype( $params[ 0 ] ) . ' given', E_USER_WARNING );
            }

            return NULL;
        }
        if ( ! is_int( $params[ 1 ] )
             && ! is_float( $params[ 1 ] )
             && ! is_string( $params[ 1 ] )
             && $params[ 1 ] !== NULL
             && ! ( is_object( $params[ 1 ] ) && method_exists( $params[ 1 ], '__toString' ) )
        ) {
            trigger_error( 'array_column_recursive(): The column key should be either a string or an integer', E_USER_WARNING );

            return FALSE;
        }
        if ( isset( $params[ 2 ] )
             && ! is_int( $params[ 2 ] )
             && ! is_float( $params[ 2 ] )
             && ! is_string( $params[ 2 ] )
             && ! ( is_object( $params[ 2 ] ) && method_exists( $params[ 2 ], '__toString' ) )
        ) {
            trigger_error( 'array_column_recursive(): The index key should be either a string or an integer', E_USER_WARNING );

            return FALSE;
        }
        $paramsInput     = $params[ 0 ];
        $paramsColumnKey = ( $params[ 1 ] !== NULL ) ? (string) $params[ 1 ] : NULL;
        $paramsIndexKey  = NULL;
        if ( isset( $params[ 2 ] ) ) {
            if ( is_float( $params[ 2 ] ) || is_int( $params[ 2 ] ) ) {
                $paramsIndexKey = (int) $params[ 2 ];
            } else {
                $paramsIndexKey = (string) $params[ 2 ];
            }
        }
        $resultArray = array();
        foreach ( $paramsInput as $row ) {
            $key    = $value = NULL;
            $keySet = $valueSet = FALSE;
            if ( $paramsIndexKey !== NULL && array_key_exists( $paramsIndexKey, $row ) ) {
                $keySet = TRUE;
                $key    = (string) $row[ $paramsIndexKey ];
            }
            if ( $paramsColumnKey === NULL ) {
                $valueSet = TRUE;
                $value    = $row;
            } elseif ( is_array( $row ) && array_key_exists( $paramsColumnKey, $row ) ) {
                $valueSet = TRUE;
                $value    = $row[ $paramsColumnKey ];
            }

            $possibleValue = array_column_recursive( $row, $paramsColumnKey, $paramsIndexKey );
            if ( $possibleValue ) {
                $resultArray = array_merge( $possibleValue, $resultArray );
            }

            if ( $valueSet ) {
                if ( $keySet ) {
                    $resultArray[ $key ] = $value;
                } else {
                    $resultArray[ ] = $value;
                }
            }
        }

        return $resultArray;
    }
}
up
-12
coviex
4 years ago
Value for existing key in the resulting array is rewritten with new value if it exists in another source sub-array.
up
-6
robsonvnasc at gmail dot com
2 years ago
Retrieve multiple columns from an array:

$columns_wanted = array('foo','bar');
$array = array('foo'=>1,'bar'=>2,'foobar'=>3);

$filtered_array = array_intersect_key(array_fill_keys($columns_wanted,''));

//filtered_array
// array('foo'=>1,'bar'=>2);
up
-5
Dominik59
2 years ago
Presented function is good when You want to flatten nested array base on only one column, but if You want to flatten whole array You can use this method:

/**
     * Method that transforms nested array into the flat one in below showed way:
     * [
     *      [
     *          [0]=>'today',
     *      ],
     *      [
     *          [0]=>'is',
     *          [1]=>'very',
     *          [2]=>   [
     *                      [0]=>'warm'
     *                  ],
     *      ],
     * ]
     *
     * Into:
     *
     * ['today','is','very','warm']
     *
     * @param $input
     * @return array
     */
    private function transformNestedArrayToFlatArray($input)
    {
        $output_array = [];
        if (is_array($input)) {
            foreach ($input as $value) {
                if (is_array($value)) {
                    $output_array = array_merge($output_array, $this->transformNestedArrayToFlatArray($value));
                } else {
                    array_push($output_array, $value);
                }
            }
        } else {
            array_push($output_array, $input);
        }

        return $output_array;
    }
up
-8
greensea
3 years ago
<?php
if (!function_exists('array_column')) {
    function
array_column($input, $column_key, $index_key = NULL) {
        if (!
is_array($input)) {
           
trigger_error(__FUNCTION__ . '() expects parameter 1 to be array, ' . gettype($input) . ' given', E_USER_WARNING);
            return
FALSE;
        }
       
       
$ret = array();
        foreach (
$input as $k => $v) {       
           
$value = NULL;
            if (
$column_key === NULL) {
               
$value = $v;
            }
            else {
               
$value = $v[$column_key];
            }
           
            if (
$index_key === NULL || !isset($v[$index_key])) {
               
$ret[] = $value;
            }
            else {
               
$ret[$v[$index_key]] = $value;
            }  
        }
       
        return
$ret;
    }
}
?>
To Top
parent root