Question

I am working with CodeIgniter and have created a custom form preferences custom config. In that I have an array that is as follows:

Array
(
  [1] => Category 1
  [2] => Category 2
  [3] => Category 3
  [4] => Category 4
  [5] => Category 5   
)

I am passing that to the view as the var $service_categories what I’d then like to do is match it to the “value” that is in the database. I.E 5. If it matches then show Category 5 in the view. At the moment I am just showing 5 – This is no good to the user.

The variable $service->service_category is a number.

The var service produces:

Array
(
    [0] => stdClass Object
    (
        [service_id] => 3
        [organisation_id] => 2
        [service_name] => Edited Service 3
        [service_description] => This is service 3 provided by
        [service_category] => 5
        [service_metadata] => Metadata for service 3 - Edited
        [service_cost] => 22.00
        [service_active] => active
    )
)

My current PHP for this is as follows:

if (in_array($service->service_category, $service_categories))
{
   echo "Exists";
}

However, the Exists is not showing in the view. It is showing nothing at all.

Am I doing something wrong with the in_array method?

Answer 1

in_array() checks if a value exists in the array. So in_array(‘Category 1’, $service_categories) would work.

However, to check if a key is present in an array, you can use:

if(array_key_exists($service->service_category, $service_categories)) {
    echo "Exists";
}

I think, this is what you’re looking for.