PHP Delete Array Items

PHP Remove Array Items

In PHP, you can remove/delete array items with several different functions:

• array_splice() - removes a portion of the array starting from a start position and length
• unset() - removes the element associated with a specific key
• array_diff() - remove items from an associative array
• array_pop() - removes the last array item
• array_shift() - removes the first array item

PHP array_splice() Function

With the array_splice() function you specify the index (where to start) and how many items you want to delete.

After the deletion, the array gets re-indexed automatically, starting at index 0.

Example

Remove the second item:

$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
array_splice($cars, 1, 1);
var_dump($cars);

Remove Multiple Array Items

To remove multiple items, the array_splice() function takes a length parameter that allows you to specify the number of items to delete.

Example

Remove 2 items, starting a the second item (index 1):

$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
array_splice($cars, 1, 2);
var_dump($cars);

PHP unset() Function

You can also use the unset() function to delete existing array items.

Note: The unset() function does not re-index the array. So, if you remove an element at index 1, the other elements (e.g., at index 0, 2, 3, etc.) will keep their original indices, leading to a "gap " in the sequence of indices.

Example

Remove the second item:

$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
unset($cars[1]);
var_dump($cars);

Remove Multiple Array Items

The unset() function takes a unlimited number of arguments, and can therefore be used to delete multiple array items:

Example

Remove the first and the second item:

$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
unset($cars[0], $cars[1]);
var_dump($cars);

Remove Item From an Associative Array

To remove items from an associative array, you can use the unset() function.

Specify the key of the item you want to delete.

Example

Remove the "model":

$cars = array("brand" => "Ford", "model" => "Mustang", "year" => 1964);
unset($cars["model"]);
var_dump($cars);

PHP array_diff() Function

You can also use the array_diff() function to remove items from an associative array.

This function returns a new array, without the specified items.

Example

Create a new array, without "Mustang" and "1964":

$cars = array("brand" => "Ford", "model" => "Mustang", "year" => 1964);
$newarray = array_diff($cars, ["Mustang", 1964]);
var_dump($newarray);

Note: The array_diff() function takes valuesas parameters, and not keys.

PHP array_pop() - Remove Last Array Item

The array_pop() function removes the last item of an array.

Example

Remove the last item:

$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
array_pop($cars);
var_dump($cars);

PHP array_shift() - Remove First Array Item

The array_shift() function removes the first item of an array.

Example

Remove the first item:

$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
array_shift($cars);
var_dump($cars);