Question

I have this simple function which I pass in an array of strings:

function myfunction( $arg = array() )
{
    // do stuff to $arg...
    // return a $string;
}

Simple so far, but I need some of the strings in the $arg array to be formatted, while some remain unformatted. I can’t figure out how to do it?

Say I run this $arg through myfunction():

echo myfunction( array( 'format me!', 'do not format me!' ) );

My tiny little brain can’t figure out how to tell myfunction() that the first value in $arg array needs to have formatting, and it should not format the second value.

I thought about an associative array, but I think that could be the wrong approach because of having identical indexes.

echo myfunction( array( 'format' => 'hi', 'format' => 'bye', 'noformat' => 'foo');

Just looking for a “nudge” in the right direction.

EDIT 1:

Forgot to mention, I can only have one $arg array because I need the keys to be in a specific order.

EDIT 2:

The $arg array can have as many keys as the user wants.

Answer 1

You can do:

function myfunction(array $format, array $noformat) {
  ... 
}

or

function myfunction(array $strings) {
  foreach ($strings['format'] as $format) {
    // do stuff
  }
  foreach ($strings['noformat'] as $noformat) {
    // do stuff
  }
}

with:

myfunction(array(
  'format' => array('one', 'two', 'three'),
  'noformat' => array('four', 'five', 'six'),
));

If (and only if) the strings are unique you can put them in the key instead of the value:

$strings = array(
  'one' => true,
  'two' => false,
  'three' => false,
  'four' => true,
);

myfunction($strings);

with:

function myfunction(array $strings) {
  foreach ($strings as $k => $v) {
    if ($v) {
      // format string
    }
  }
}

But since you can’t have duplicate keys this method falls down if you have repeated strings.