Display Parent Array?

I'm actually working on a solution for another thread, however I don't know how to do this, or if it is even possible.

I want to display the array a variable or item is in, like this:

$stuff = array("this", "that", "theotherthing");
$answers = array("no", "yes", "maybe");

PHP:

How would I input $theotherthing into a script that would tell me that it's part of the array $stuff? If I input "maybe" into the script it should come back with $answers.

Thanks!

-Peter

EDIT:: I don't need to "display" the "parent array," I just need the script to identify it so I can do with it whatever I please.

 

ok, array_search can be also a solution for your problem

array_search("maybe", $answers)

 

Something along the lines of this?

<?php
	$item = "yes";
		
	$master_arr = array(
		"stuff" => array("this", "that", "theotherthing"), 
		"answers" => array("no", "yes", "maybe")
	);
		
	foreach ($master_arr as $test){
		if ( in_array($item, $test) ){
			$id_array = key($master_arr);
		}
	}
?>

PHP:

Isn't quite right, but I think its close...

nico?

 

yeah!
NinjaNoodles' code is working

 

I was going to suggest something like this, as it seemed to be your initial question:

function array_multisearch()
{
	$args    = func_get_args();
	$query   = $args[0];
	$matches = array();
	unset($args[0]);
	
	foreach ($args AS $key => $array)
	{
		if (!is_array($array))
		{
			trigger_error(__FUNCTION__ . '() expects parameter ' . ++$key . ' to be an array.');
		}
		else if (in_array($query, $array))
		{
			array_push($matches, $array);
		}
	}
	
	return $matches;
}

PHP:

This would return an array of the arrays where the item was found in.

$stuff = array("this", "that", "theotherthing");
$answers = array("no", "yes", "maybe");
$item = "yes";

// You can add as many arrays as you want.
$results = array_multisearch($item, $stuff, $answers/*, array, array, array,...*/);

echo '<pre>' . print_r($results, true) . '</pre>';

PHP:

Outputs:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => no
            [1] => yes
            [2] => maybe
        )

)

Code (markup):

With a slight modification you could get the first array only where the item was found in.

 

Well, when I tested my code it returned the name of the first array regardless of the input, if I recall correctly. Does it work when you guys test it?