PHP array_shift() Function
Topic: PHP Array ReferencePrev|Next
Description
The array_shift() function shifts or removes the first element from an array.
The following table summarizes the technical details of this function.
| Return Value: | Returns the value of the removed element, or NULL if array is empty or is not an array. |
|---|---|
| Version: | PHP 4+ |
Syntax
The basic syntax of the array_shift() function is given with:
array_shift(array);
The following example shows the array_shift() function in action.
Example
Run this code »<?php
// Sample array
$fruits = array("apple", "banana", "orange", "mango");
// Remove and get the first value from array
echo array_shift($fruits); // Prints: apple
print_r($fruits);
?>Note: If the array keys are numeric, as in the above example, they will be reset to start from 0. However, arrays using associative or string keys will not be affected.
Parameters
The array_shift() function accepts the following parameters.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| array | Required. Specifies the array to work on. |
More Examples
Here're some more examples showing how array_shift() function actually works:
The following example shows how to remove the first element from an associative array.
Example
Run this code »<?php
// Sample array
$alphabets = array("a"=>"apple", "b"=>"ball", "c"=>"cat", "d"=>"dog");
// Remove and get the first value from array
echo array_shift($alphabets); // Prints: apple
print_r($alphabets);
?>
