Deprecated

This library isn't in active development. Various other collection libraries provide most functionality that we need out of the box.

Bug fixes only.

UtilityBelt

Every time we start a new php project that requires even a small amount of data wrangling, we find ourselves re-writing the same helper functions over and over again.

This package provides some key functions that make it easier to perform common tasks like:

• finding and filtering values in collections of arrays
• grouping values in collections by properties
• extracting values from deeply nested associative arrays
• recursive array mapping
• determining if an array is associative
• and more...

These functions are all provided without pulling in any heavy framework dependencies or third party packages.

Installation

Install the latest version with:

$ composer require rexlabs/utility-belt

CollectionUtility

filterWhere / filterWhereNot

(array $items, array $properties)

Some extremely common functionality involves filtering collections (arrays of rows) based on a property list. The code required for this via array_filter tends to become fairly bloated and makes the purpose of the underlying code harder to understand. These functions provide a simpler way to perform these kinds of filters.

All comparisons below can be run as case insensitive or strict checks.

$items = [
    [
        "name"=>"john",
        "age"=>18
    ],
    [
        "name"=>"mary",
        "age"=>19
    ],
    [
        "name"=>"william",
        "age"=>18,
        "dog"=>[
            "name"=>"betty"
        ]
    ]
];

CollectionUtility::filterWhere($items,["age"=>18])
// [["name"=>"john",...], ["name"=>"william",...]];

CollectionUtility::filterWhereNot($items,["age"=>18])
// [["name"=>"mary",...]]

CollectionUtility::filterWhere($items,["dog.name"=>"betty"])
// [["name"=>"william",...]]

CollectionUtility::filterWhere($items,[["dog.name"=>"betty"],["name"=>"john"]]);
// [["name"=>"william",...], ["name"=>"john"]]

findWhere / findWhereNot

(array $items, array $properties)

Similar to the filter methods but returns the first matching result and optionally the key where it was found.

groupByProperty / keyByProperty

(array $array, $key)

Re-organises rows in a collection under the values of one or more properties.

The difference between the two methods is that key by property allows for only a single row per property in the result while grouping will return an array of collections.

$items = [
    ["name"=>"john","dog"=>["name"=>"william"]],
    ["name"=>"frank","dog"=>["name"=>"william"]],
    ["name"=>"dodd","dog"=>["name"=>"bruce"]],
];

CollectionUtility::keyByProperty($items,"dog.name")
[
   "william"=>["name"=>"frank","dog"=>["name"=>"william"]],
   "bruce"=>["name"=>"dodd","dog"=>["name"=>"bruce"]],
]

CollectionUtility::keyByProperty($items,["name","dog.name"])
[
    "john.william"=>["name"=>"john","dog"=>["name"=>"william"]],
    "frank.william"=>["name"=>"frank","dog"=>["name"=>"william"]],
    "dodd.bruce"=>["name"=>"dodd","dog"=>["name"=>"bruce"]],
]

CollectionUtility::groupByProperty($items,"dog.name")
[
    "william"=>[
        ["name"=>"john","dog"=>["name"=>"william"]],
        ["name"=>"frank","dog"=>["name"=>"william"]],
    ],
    "bruce"=>[
        ["name"=>"dodd","dog"=>["name"=>"bruce"]],
    ]
]

sort / asort

(array $array, $property, $sort_direction = self::SORT_DIRECTION_ASCENDING, $sort_flags=SORT_REGULAR)

Sort a collection using a property or nested property

$items = [
    ["string"=>"a", "nested"=>["number"=>1]],
    ["string"=>"d", "nested"=>["number"=>3]],
    ["string"=>"c", "nested"=>["number"=>3]],
    ["string"=>"b", "nested"=>["number"=>2]],
];

CollectionUtility::sort($items, "nested.number", CollectionUtility::SORT_DIRECTION_DESCENDING, SORT_NUMERIC);
[
    ["string"=>"c", "nested"=>["number"=>3]],
    ["string"=>"d", "nested"=>["number"=>3]],
    ["string"=>"b", "nested"=>["number"=>2]],
    ["string"=>"a", "nested"=>["number"=>1]]
]

keepKeys

(array $array, array $keys, $removal_action = CollectionUtility::REMOVAL_ACTION_DELETE)

Remove (or nullify) all keys in each collection item except for those specified in the keys arg

$items = [
    ["animal"=>"dog","name"=>"John","weather"=>"mild"],
    ["animal"=>"cat","name"=>"William"]
];

CollectionUtility::keepKeys($items, ["animal","weather"], CollectionUtility::REMOVAL_ACTION_DELETE);
[
    ["animal"=>"dog", "weather"=>"mild"],
    ["animal"=>"cat"]
]

CollectionUtility::keepKeys($items, ["animal","weather"], CollectionUtility::REMOVAL_ACTION_NULLIFY);
[
    ["animal"=>"dog", "name"=>null, ""weather"=>"mild"],
    ["animal"=>"cat", "name"=>null]
]

removeKeys

(array $array, array $keys, $removal_action = CollectionUtility::REMOVAL_ACTION_DELETE)

Remove (or nullify) any keys provided in the $keys argument in each collection item.

$items = [
    ["animal"=>"dog","name"=>"John","weather"=>"mild"],
    ["animal"=>"cat","name"=>"William"]
];

CollectionUtility::removeKeys($items, ["animal","weather"], CollectionUtility::REMOVAL_ACTION_DELETE);
[
    ["name"=>"John"],
    ["name"=>"William"]
]

random

(array $array)

Get a random item from an array

shuffle

(array $array)

Shuffle an array and return the result

ArrayUtility

dotRead

(array $array, $property, $default_value=null)

$array = [
    "a"=>[
        "very"=>[
            "deep"=>[
                "hole"=>"with a prize at the bottom"
            ]
        ]
    ]
]

ArrayUtility::dotRead($array, "a.very.shallow.hole", "no prize!")
"no prize!"

ArrayUtility::dotRead($array, "a.very.deep.hole")
"with a prize at the bottom"

dotWrite

(array $array, $property, $value)

Original array:

$array = [
    "a"=>[
        "very"=>[
            "deep"=>[
                "hole"=>"with a prize at the bottom"
            ]
        ]
    ],
    "i"=>[
        "like"=>"candy"
    ]
]

Return a new array containing the updated property:

$array = ArrayUtility::dotWrite($array, "a.very.deep.hole", "no prize!");
$array - ArrayUtility::dotWrite($array, "i.like", ["carrots","broccoli"]);

Array is now:

$array = [
    "a"=>[
        "very"=>[
            "deep"=>[
                "hole"=>"no prize!"
            ]
        ]
    ],
    "i"=>[
        "like"=>["carrots","broccoli"]
    ]
]

Set new properties:

$array = ArrayUtility::dotWrite($array, "a.very.shallow.hole", "that may contain a prize!");
$array = ArrayUtility::dotWrite($array, "i.also.like", "blue skies");

Array is now:

$array = [
    "a"=>[
        "very"=>[
            "deep"=>[
                "hole"=>"no prize!"
            ]
        ]
    ],
    "a"=>[
        "very"=>[
            "shallow"=>[
                "hole"=>"that may contain a prize!"
            ]
        ]
    ],
    "i"=>[
        "like"=>["carrots","broccoli"]
        "also"=>[
            "like"=>"blue skies"
        ]
    ]
]

dotMutate

(array $array, $property, $value)

This method is similar to dotWrite() except the array is passed by reference so that property changes directly mutate the given array.

Original array:

$array = [
    "a"=>[
        "very"=>[
            "deep"=>[
                "hole"=>"with a prize at the bottom"
            ]
        ]
    ],
    "i"=>[
        "like"=>"candy"
    ]
]

Mutate the array with the updated property:

ArrayUtility::dotMutate($array, "a.very.deep.hole", "no prize!");
ArrayUtility::dotMutate($array, "i.like", ["carrots","broccoli"]);

Array is now:

$array = [
    "a"=>[
        "very"=>[
            "deep"=>[
                "hole"=>"no prize!"
            ]
        ]
    ],
    "i"=>[
        "like"=>["carrots","broccoli"]
    ]
]

Set new properties:

ArrayUtility::dotMutate($array, "a.very.shallow.hole", "that may contain a prize!");
ArrayUtility::dotMutate($array, "i.also.like", "blue skies");

Array is now:

$array = [
    "a"=>[
        "very"=>[
            "deep"=>[
                "hole"=>"no prize!"
            ]
        ]
    ],
    "a"=>[
        "very"=>[
            "shallow"=>[
                "hole"=>"that may contain a prize!"
            ]
        ]
    ],
    "i"=>[
        "like"=>["carrots","broccoli"]
        "also"=>[
            "like"=>"blue skies"
        ]
    ]
]

flatten / inflate

(array $array)

$items = [
    "a"=>[
        "name"=>"jimmy",
        "fruits"=>["apple","banana"]
    ],
    "b"=>[
        "name"=>"william",
        "age"=>18,
        "dog"=>[
            "name"=>"betty"
        ]
    ]
]

ArrayUtility::flatten($items);
[
    "a.name"=>"jimmy",
    "a.fruits"=>["apple","banana"], //by default these are not flattened
    "b.name"=>"william",
    "b.age"=>18,
    "b.dog.name"=>"betty"
]

ArrayUtility::inflate($flattenedArray);
[
    "a"=>[
        "name"=>"jimmy",
        "fruits"=>["apple","banana"]
    ],
    "b"=>[
        "name"=>"william",
        "age"=>18,
        "dog"=>[
            "name"=>"betty"
        ]
    ]
]

isAssoc

(array $array)

Quick test to determine whether an array is associative or not.

ArrayUtility::isAssoc(["a"=>1,"b"=>2])
true

ArrayUtility::isAssoc(["a","b"])
false

keepKeys

(array $array, array $keys, ArrayUtility::REMOVAL_ACTION_DELETE)

Same as CollectionUtility::keepKeys but operates on a basic array instead of a collection of arrays.

removeKeys

(array $array, array $keys, ArrayUtility::REMOVAL_ACTION_DELETE)

Same as CollectionUtility::removeKeys but operates on a basic array instead of a collection of arrays.

mapRecursive

(array $array, callable $callback, $map_arrays = false)

Like array walk recursive but doesn't mutate the array. Also, callback receives three arguments: $value, $key, $array

map

(array $array, callable $callback)

Like array_map but the callback receives three arguments: $value, $key, $array

first

(array $array)

Returns the first element from an array. More useful than reset() because it can handle the result of a function.

last

(array $array)

Returns the last element from an array. More useful than end() because it can handle the result of a function.

firstKey

(array $array)

Returns the key of the first element in an array.

lastKey

(array $array)

Returns the key of the last element in an array.

Install

Install UtilityBelt using Composer.

$ composer require rexlabs/utility-belt

Testing

UtilityBelt has a PHPUnit test suite. To run the tests, run the following command from the project folder.

$ composer test

Credits

• Alex Babkov
• All Contributors

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see LICENSE for more information.