Question

How does PHP array_keys do the search for value?

Example:

$array2 = array("xyz", "xyz", "abc", "abc", "xyz", "xyz", "text", "abc", "text");

print_r(array_keys($array2,"abc"));

Since they are key,value pairs. I am guessing PHP to do a search based on hash rather than iterate through each of the key-pairs in the array.

Any ‘clarity thoughts’ on this?

Question inspired by this question: How to get the keys of empty elements in an array if the corresponding element in a similar-sized array is a number (without iteration)?

Answer 1

In the php source, they iterate through each key and value, one by one.
https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/master/ext/standard/array.c#L2439

/* {{{ proto array array_keys(array input [, mixed search_value[, bool strict]])
   Return just the keys from the input array, optionally only for the specified search_value */
PHP_FUNCTION(array_keys)
{
    zval *input,                /* Input array */
         *search_value = NULL,  /* Value to search for */
         **entry,               /* An entry in the input array */
           res,                 /* Result of comparison */
          *new_val;             /* New value */
    int    add_key;             /* Flag to indicate whether a key should be added */
    char  *string_key;          /* String key */
    uint   string_key_len;
    ulong  num_key;             /* Numeric key */
    zend_bool strict = 0;       /* do strict comparison */
    HashPosition pos;
    int (*is_equal_func)(zval *, zval *, zval * TSRMLS_DC) = is_equal_function;

    if (zend_parse_parameters(ZEND_NUM_ARGS() TSRMLS_CC, "a|zb", &input, &search_value, &strict) == FAILURE) {
        return;
    }

    if (strict) {
        is_equal_func = is_identical_function;
    }

    /* Initialize return array */
    if (search_value != NULL) {
        array_init(return_value);
    } else {
        array_init_size(return_value, zend_hash_num_elements(Z_ARRVAL_P(input)));
    }
    add_key = 1;

    /* Go through input array and add keys to the return array */
    zend_hash_internal_pointer_reset_ex(Z_ARRVAL_P(input), &pos);
    while (zend_hash_get_current_data_ex(Z_ARRVAL_P(input), (void **)&entry, &pos) == SUCCESS) {
        if (search_value != NULL) {
            is_equal_func(&res, search_value, *entry TSRMLS_CC);
            add_key = zval_is_true(&res);
        }

        if (add_key) {
            MAKE_STD_ZVAL(new_val);

            switch (zend_hash_get_current_key_ex(Z_ARRVAL_P(input), &string_key, &string_key_len, &num_key, 1, &pos)) {
                case HASH_KEY_IS_STRING:
                    ZVAL_STRINGL(new_val, string_key, string_key_len - 1, 0);
                    zend_hash_next_index_insert(Z_ARRVAL_P(return_value), &new_val, sizeof(zval *), NULL);
                    break;

                case HASH_KEY_IS_LONG:
                    Z_TYPE_P(new_val) = IS_LONG;
                    Z_LVAL_P(new_val) = num_key;
                    zend_hash_next_index_insert(Z_ARRVAL_P(return_value), &new_val, sizeof(zval *), NULL);
                    break;
            }
        }

        zend_hash_move_forward_ex(Z_ARRVAL_P(input), &pos);
    }
}
/* }}} */