up vote 0 down vote favorite

I have an array ($vEvents) as follows:

Array
(
[0] => Array
    (
        [id] => 1174
        [date] => 120411
        [name] => DR. J 'Souled Out' ~ 9pm (No Cover)
        [pubId] => 44
        [price] => 
    )

[1] => Array
    (
        [id] => 1108
        [date] => 120410
        [name] => Verb presents Open Stage ~ 9pm (No Cover)
        [pubId] => 44
        [price] => 
    )

[2] => Array
    (
        [id] => 1104
        [date] => 120409
        [name] => DR. J 'Souled Out' ~ 9pm (No Cover)
        [pubId] => 44
        [price] => 
    )
[currLimit] => 10
[eventsRemaining] => 4

I am echoing it to the screen with:

reset ($vEvents);
foreach ($vEvents as $key => &$value) {
    if ($key != 'currLimit' && $key != 'eventsRemaining'){ //Makes sure it doesn't print out the limiter value
    $m = substr($value['date'],0,2);
    $d = substr($value['date'],2,2);
    $y = '20'.substr($value['date'],4,2);
    echo date("D", mktime(0, 0, 0, $m, $d, $y)).", ".date("M", mktime(0, 0, 0, $m, $d, $y))." ".$d.", ".$y." - ".$value['name'].'<br />';
    }
}

But on my output, instead of getting all displayed array entries, it keeps skipping the first one... Output:

Sat, Dec 04, 2010 - Verb presents Open Stage ~ 9pm (No Cover)
Fri, Dec 04, 2009 - DR. J 'Souled Out' ~ 9pm (No Cover)

However, my expected output should be:

Sun, Dec 04, 2011 - DR. J 'Souled Out' ~ 9pm (No Cover)
Sat, Dec 04, 2010 - Verb presents Open Stage ~ 9pm (No Cover)
Fri, Dec 04, 2009 - DR. J 'Souled Out' ~ 9pm (No Cover)

I have tried changing the values in the name key and such, but all other entire show fine, it just always skips the first key. I have never had this issue before. Thoughts?

When I comment out the:if ($key != 'currLimit' && $key != 'eventsRemaining'){ //Makes sure it doesn't print out the limiter value line, it works fine. Is it relevant that the key of the first element is zero? But why would that fail my if check?

share|improve this question
Your code looks alright. Is there anything happening between your print_r() and your loop? By the way, you can spare the reset-call as it should not have any effect. – yankee May 21 '12 at 17:48
The code and array contents you posted dont properly represent the code and array contents youre actually executing. run the code and array you posted in a brand new totally separate script, and you'll see it works. – rambo coder May 21 '12 at 17:50
try to debug value inside the for loop – Moyed Ansari May 21 '12 at 17:52
@yankee I added the reset to try and debug the issue. usually I wouldn't have added it. – MaurerPower May 21 '12 at 17:57
1  
Not saying it's definitely the problem, but would you mind sharing why you're prefixing your loop variable with the ampersand? – Brian Warshaw May 21 '12 at 18:04
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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

PHP is weird when it deals with values of 0... it treats them as false in most cases. So, 

if ($key != 'currLimit' && $key != 'eventsRemaining')

is going to evaluate to false when $key == 0. I would change it to:

if ($key !== 'currLimit' && $key !== 'eventsRemaining')
share|improve this answer
Perfect!!! While I know 0 equates to false in php, I had no idea that would come into effect with this type of syntax. Using the strict comparison worked great, thanks!!! – MaurerPower May 21 '12 at 18:13
1  
Did a little digging and found out that because $key is an integer value, PHP converts 'currLimit' to an integer... which evaluates to 0. So 0 != 0 is false. – bobwienholt May 21 '12 at 18:24
thanks again! This is why I love SO. Users like you who not only provide excellent answers, but also a clear explanation as to why. That is how we all learn :) – MaurerPower May 21 '12 at 18:57
up vote -3 down vote

Because this is an array, I would try using a different type of loop that should give you the expected results:

<?php

$length = count( $vEvents );

for( $i = 0; $i < $length; i ++ )
{

$key = $i;
$value = $vEvents[ $i ];

//rest of the loop code here

}
?>
share|improve this answer
1  
my understanding is the foreach loop is specifically used for iterating through an array, starting at the first element, and ending at the last – MaurerPower May 21 '12 at 17:56
2  
foreach is an abstraction not specifically for arrays, but well suited for arrays. It is perfectly fine to use foreach as I perceive it as an addition to code readability. – yankee May 21 '12 at 17:59
foreach is best when you do not know the keys/indexes of an object, while for loops are better for indexed arrays. – Steve Binder May 21 '12 at 18:05
@SteveBinder: That isn;t true since you can use foreach for associative arrays as well like this: foreach($array as $key=>$value) – xbonez May 21 '12 at 18:06
the question here however is why is the foreach skipping the "0" index, that is why I recommended a for loop. – Steve Binder May 21 '12 at 18:08
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