Question

I’ve been getting error from accessing array with string offsets. The array looks something like this:

$array = array(
                    "first" => array("one","two","three"),
                    "second" => array("blabla"),
                    "third" => array("something","else"),
                    "fourth" => array("next","nextnext","nextnextnext")
    );

I’m trying to get one of the inside arrays depending on string I have and I use that string as offset, like this:

$curArray = $array[$this->string];

But everytime I run the script I get an error on that line. Can you please tell me why?
The error I get is “Illegal offset type”.
Thanks

Answer 1

It is very likely that $this->string isn’t what you think it is. This error is caused by a non string or number being used as an array key.

if you do var_dump($this->string); You should be able to see what the value actually is.

Edit:
A SimpleXMLElement is an object and therefore can’t be used as an array key. You can cast it to a string like so:

$key = (string)$this->string;
$curArray = $array[$key];