Match any specified items in an array

Lets say I have an array called $values

I use a series of IF statements to add items to the array using array_push

I now want to use an IF statement to check if ANY of the possible items exist in the array.

Normally I'd do something like:

if (in_array('item1', $values) || in_array('item2', $values) || in_array('item3', $values))

But is there another (simpler) way of doing this? Can I make the list of all possible items and put that in an array or something?

 

function any_in_array( $items = array(), &$array, $strict = false )
{
    foreach ( $items as $item )
        if ( in_array($item, $array, $strict) )
            return true;
    return false;
}

function all_in_array( $items = array(), &$array, $strict = false )
{
    foreach ( $items as $item )
        if ( !in_array($item, $array, $strict) )
            return false;
    return true;
}

PHP:

I would assume you want the any_in_array function.

 

Hmmmm I didn't expect to have to use a function! It would have been good if the "in_array" could take multiple search terms! :-|

 

The function is just a wrapper, take it out of the function if you like, but it's likely you'll have to do something similar somewhere else in your code, and I'm a supporter of the DRY principle.

Dan.

Example usage :

$items = array('name', 'phone', 'something', 'else');
$values = array('whatever');
if(any_in_array($items, $values)) {
/* Do something */
} else {
/* Do something else */
}

PHP:

 

There has GOT to be a simpler way of doing this!

Something along the lines of:

if (in_array('item1' || 'item2' || 'item3', $values))

Obviously that doesn't work but it seems odd that something like this isn't part of the standard PHP functionset!

 

I got the solution I was looking for!

$newItems = array('item1', 'item2', 'item3');
$testArray = array_intersect($values, $newItems);

Code (markup):

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