PHP multidimensional array search by value

Question

I want to search for the uid in an array and get the key of the array.

Example

Assume we have the following 2-dimensional array:

$userdb = array(
    array(
        'uid' => '100',
        'name' => 'Sandra Shush',
        'pic_square' => 'urlof100'
    ),
    array(
        'uid' => '5465',
        'name' => 'Stefanie Mcmohn',
        'pic_square' => 'urlof100'
    ),
    array(
        'uid' => '40489',
        'name' => 'Michael',
        'pic_square' => 'urlof40489'
    )
);

Can someone help me with a faster-executing code for this?

Answer 1

Try this:

function searchForId($id, $array) {
   foreach ($array as $key => $val) {
       if ($val['uid'] === $id) {
           return $key;
       }
   }
   return null;
}

To call it use this code:

$id = searchForId('100', $userdb);

Note:  if you are using the === operator compared types have to be exactly the same.

I hope this helps you.