Question

Im trying to remove the first element of the last array

The array:

$harbours = array(
              '67' => array('boat1', 'boat2'),
              '43' => array('boat3', 'boat4')
            );

I want to remove and return boat3

$last = end($harbours);
$boat = array_shift($last);

If I then print_r ($harbours), ‘boat3’ is still there.

Answer 1

That is because in array_shift you are changing a copy of the end array.

You need to get a reference of the end array in order to shift it.

Try this:

end($array);

$currKey = key($array); //get the last key

array_shift($array[$currKey]);

See Demo: http://codepad.org/ey3IVfIL