get first and last element in array

arrays, indexing, php

Solution

`reset()` and `end()` does exactly this.

From the manual:

`reset()`: Returns the value of the first array element, or FALSE if the array is empty.

`end()`: Returns the value of the last element or FALSE for empty array.

Example:

<?php
    $array = array(24.0,24.1,24.2,24.3,24.4,24.5,24.6);
    
    $first = reset($array);
    $last = end($array);
    
    var_dump($first, $last);
?>

Which outputs:

float(24) float(24.6)

DEMO

NOTE: This will reset your array pointer meaning if you use `current()` to get the current element or you've seeked into the middle of the array, `reset()` and `end()` will reset the array pointer (to the beginning and to the end):

<?php

$array = array(30.0, 24.0, 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, 24.4, 24.5, 24.6, 12.0);
    
// reset — Set the internal pointer of an array to its first element
$first = reset($array);

var_dump($first); // float(30)
var_dump(current($array)); // float(30)

// end — Set the internal pointer of an array to its last element
$last = end($array);
    
var_dump($last); // float(12)
var_dump(current($array)); // float(12) - this is no longer 30 - now it's 12

Problem

hey there i have this array: ``` array(1) { ["dump"]=> string(38) "["24.0",24.1,24.2,24.3,24.4,24.5,24.6]" } ``` my question: how to get the first and the last element out from this array, so i will have: ``` $firstEle = "24.0"; ``` and ``` $lastEle = "24.6"; ``` anybody knows how to get those elements from the array? i already tried this: ``` $arr = json_decode($_POST["dump"], true); $col0 = $arr[0]; $col1 = $arr[1]; $col2 = $arr[2]; $col3 = $arr[3]; $col4 = $arr[4]; $col5 = $arr[5]; $col6 = $arr[6]; ``` i could chose $col0 and $col6, but the array could be much longer, so need a way to filter the first("24.0") and the last("24.6") element. greetings

Original source