Remove empty elements from associative array selectively in PHP

Question

I have the following associative array:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => 18-Jul-16
            [1] => 29-Jul-15
            [2] => 2-Feb-16
            [3] => 3301
            [4] => 1800 Bimodel
            [5] => 5813
            [6] => 1 800 Bimodel Multi-Option Test
            [7] => Tested
            [8] => Shop Center
            [9] => Shop Services
            [10] => 864
            [11] => 20
            [12] => 884
            [13] => 0.75
            [14] => 0.2
            [15] => 0.49
            [16] => 429.6
            [17] => 47.3
            [18] => 382.3
            [19] => 
            [20] => Jonas John
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
            [1] => 
            [2] => 
            [3] => 
            [4] => 
            [5] => 
            [6] => 
            [7] => 
            [8] => 
            [9] => 
            [10] => 
            [11] => 
            [12] => 
            [13] => 
            [14] => 
            [15] => 
            [16] => 
            [17] => 
            [18] => 
            [19] => 
            [20] => 
        )
)

To filter out the empty array elements, I am using the following code:

            $arrData = array_map('array_filter', $arrData);
            $arrData = array_filter($arrData);

The above code removes all empty elements from the array. It also removes value at index 19 in the 0th array. I want it to remove array elements only if all the values of the array are empty. In my case only array at index 1 should be removed and the array at 0th index should not be removed (or any of its elements). I will always need 21 elements from each array. Can I do that selectively using php code ?

Thanks

Danyal Sandeelo · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-19 08:39:25Z

1

 foreach($dataArray as $outerKey =>$innerArray) {
 $counter=0;         
 foreach($innerArray as $key=>$value){
      if(trim($value)==""){
        $counter++;
      } 
          if($counter==count($innerArray)
              unset($dataArray[$outerKey]);
    }
 }

edited Oct 19, 2016 at 8:39

answered Oct 19, 2016 at 8:20

Danyal Sandeelo

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4 Comments

krasipenkov Over a year ago

May be you should add unset of $dataArray element when $innerArray remains empty ?

Danyal Sandeelo Over a year ago

can write another logic directly.. @krasipenkov updated it..directly accessed the key and then did unset it

krasipenkov Over a year ago

Yeah but the wanted result is to remove outer array element only when all its inner elements are empty ... if I understood it right

Danyal Sandeelo Over a year ago

just read the detailed explanation, will need to update the code.

viral barot · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-19 08:23:53Z

0

// PHP < 5.3
print_r(array_filter($linksArray, create_function('$value', 'return $value !== "";')));

// PHP 5.3 and later
print_r(array_filter($linksArray, function($value) { return $value !== ''; }));

answered Oct 19, 2016 at 8:23

viral barot

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Comments

cske · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-20 06:33:37Z

0

No magic just simply:

<?php
/**
$data contains (incoming) unfiltered value
*/
$data = [
    'keep1' => [
        0,1,2,3
    ]
    ,
    'drop1'=>[
        '',0,false,[]
    ]
    ,'keep2'=>[
        2,2,3,4
    ]
];

foreach ($data as $key => $innerArray) { //check for each element
    foreach ($innerArray as $innerValue) {
        if ( !empty($innerValue) ) {
            continue 2;//stop investigating at first non empty, we shoud keep this
        }
    }
    //all values in innerArray are empty, drop this
    unset($data[$key]);

}

print_r(array_keys($data));

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => keep1
    [1] => keep2
)

edited Oct 20, 2016 at 6:33

answered Oct 19, 2016 at 8:26

cske

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1 Comment

andreas Over a year ago

While this code snippet may solve the question, including an explanation really helps to improve the quality of your post. Remember that you are answering the question for readers in the future, and those people might not know the reasons for your code suggestion.

SeparateReality · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-14 22:33:22Z

I think there is a really simply solution for this. I recently had the same issue. Just use

$$data = array_filter($$data, 'array_filter');

array_filter() removes elements from the array which bool convert to false. This includes - for example - each of [], null, '', 0, false.

What it does

The first array_filter() takes each of the sub-arrays and throws it in the second array_filter().
The second array_filter() removes every false element and returns the rest. Its important to notice that the returned array will become empty if every element converts to false.
The first array_filter() takes the result from the second and checks against false. So, in case an empty array is returned the sub-array will be removed from the array.

To prove the case I used the data from cske above:

<?php

$data = [
    'keep1' => [0,1,2,3
    ],
    'drop1' => ['',0,false,[]
    ],
    'keep2' => [2,2,3,4
    ],
];
print_r(array_filter($data, 'array_filter'));

Output

Array
(
[keep1] => Array
    (
        [0] => 0
        [1] => 1
        [2] => 2
        [3] => 3
    )

[keep2] => Array
    (
        [0] => 2
        [1] => 2
        [2] => 3
        [3] => 4
    )

)

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