Question

ideone

Sample Code:

<?php
$a = new ArrayObject();
$a['b'] = array('c'=>array('d'));
print_r($a);
unset($a['b']['c']);
print_r($a);

Output

ArrayObject Object
(
    [b] => Array
        (
            [c] => Array
                (
                    [0] => d
                )
        )
)
ArrayObject Object
(
    [b] => Array
        (
            [c] => Array
                (
                    [0] => d
                )
        )
)

You notice that $a['b']['c'] is still there, even after unsetting. I would expect $a to have just the one value left (b).

In my actual app, I get the following warning:

Indirect modification of overloaded element of MyClass has no effect

Where MyClass extends ArrayObject. I have a lot of code that depends on being able to unset nested elements like this, so how can I get this to work?

Answer 1

One way to do it

<?php
$a      = new ArrayObject();
$a['b'] = array('c' => array('d'));
$d      =& $a['b'];

unset($d['c']);
print_r($a['b']);

prints:

Array
(
)

Would have to think a bit longer for an explanation as to why the syntax you’ve originally used doesn’t remove the element.

EDIT: Explanation of behavior

What’s happening is the call to unset($a['b']['c']); is translated into:

$temp = $a->offsetGet('b');
unset($temp['c']);

since $temp is a copy of $a instead of a reference to it, PHP uses copy-on-write internally and creates a second array where $temp doesn’t have ['b']['c'], but $a still does.

ANOTHER EDIT: Reusable Code

So, no matter which way you slice it, seems like trying to overload function offsetGet($index) to be function &offsetGet($index) leads to trouble; so here’s the shortest helper method I came up w/ could add it as a static or instance method in a subclass of ArrayObject, whatever floats your boat:

function unsetNested(ArrayObject $oArrayObject, $sIndex, $sNestedIndex)
{
    if(!$oArrayObject->offSetExists($sIndex))
        return;

    $aValue =& $oArrayObject[$sIndex];

    if(!array_key_exists($sNestedIndex, $aValue))
        return;

    unset($aValue[$sNestedIndex]);
}

So the original code would become

$a      = new ArrayObject();
$a['b'] = array('c' => array('d'));

// instead of unset($a['b']['c']);
unsetNested($a, 'b', 'c');
print_r($a['b']);

YET ANOTHER EDIT: OO Solution

OK – So I must have been scrambling this morning b/c I found an error in my code, and when revised, we can implement a solution, based on OO.

Just so you know I tried it, extension segfaults..:

/// XXX This does not work, posted for illustration only
class BadMoxuneArrayObject extends ArrayObject
{
    public function &offsetGet($index)
    {   
        $var =& $this[$index];
        return $var;
    }   
}

Implementing a Decorator on the other hand works like a charm:

class MoxuneArrayObject implements IteratorAggregate, ArrayAccess, Serializable, Countable
{
    private $_oArrayObject;  // Decorated ArrayObject instance

    public function __construct($mInput=null, $iFlags=0, $sIteratorClass='')
    {
        if($mInput === null)
            $mInput = array();

        if($sIteratorClass === '')
            $this->_oArrayObject = new ArrayObject($mInput, $iFlags);
        else
            $this->_oArrayObject = new ArrayObject($mInput, $iFlags, $sIteratorClass);
    } 

    // -----------------------------------------
    // override offsetGet to return by reference
    // -----------------------------------------
    public function &offsetGet($index)
    {
        $var =& $this->_oArrayObject[$index];
        return $var;
    }

    // ------------------------------------------------------------
    // everything else is passed through to the wrapped ArrayObject
    // ------------------------------------------------------------
    public function append($value)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->append($value);
    }

    public function asort()
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->asort();
    }

    public function count()
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->count();
    }

    public function exchangeArray($mInput)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->exchangeArray($mInput);
    }

    public function getArrayCopy()
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->getArrayCopy();
    }

    public function getFlags()
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->getFlags();
    }

    public function getIterator()
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->getIterator();
    }

    public function getIteratorClass()
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->getIteratorClass();
    }

    public function ksort()
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->ksort();
    }

    public function natcassesort()
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->natcassesort();
    }

    public function offsetExists($index)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->offsetExists($index);
    }

    public function offsetSet($index, $value)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->offsetSet($index, $value);
    }

    public function offsetUnset($index)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->offsetUnset($index);
    }

    public function serialize()
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->serialize();
    }

    public function setFlags($iFlags)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->setFlags($iFlags);
    }

    public function setIteratorClass($iterator_class)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->setIteratorClass($iterator_class);
    }

    public function uasort($cmp_function)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->uasort($cmp_function);
    }

    public function uksort($cmp_function)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->uksort($cmp_function);
    }

    public function unserialize($serialized)
    {
        return $this->_oArrayObject->unserialize($serialized);
    }
}

Now this code works as desired:

$a      = new MoxuneArrayObject();
$a['b'] = array('c' => array('d'));
unset($a['b']['c']);
var_dump($a);

Still have to modify some code though..; I don’t see any way round that.