question about arrays

[skibascott]

When I perform an echo on $file_list in the following code, my output is simply "Array".

$list = "cd /mnt/sc_proc/video; ls *.wmv | sort"; 	  exec($list,$file_list);

Is this the actual contents of $file_list? Or does it contain all of the elements in the array? When I use the following code:

foreach ($file_list as $value)
   		{
       echo $value."<br>";
   		}

I get the contents of the array. Do I need to use this foreach function in order to perform operations on the individual elements of the array? Or can I use $file_list in the following way to perform operations on this array?

for($i=0; $i<count($file_list); $i++){ 
								if ($phpdocnum == substr($file_list[$i], 0, 7)){
									 echo $file_list[$i];
									 }else{
									 }
								}

 

[DRJ478]

foreach iterates an array, element by element until it hits the end. Each item is subjected to the code in the foreach loop.

There are array functions that allow you to use callbacks on all array elements without having to write an explicit loop. Just as an example have a look at:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.array-walk.php

In your third example above you don't perform an operation, you perform a comparison. You can use:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.in-array.php

to find a specific element you look for.

 

[skibascott]

Thank you. You have cleared my confusion.