PHP Array Diff

Introduction

If you want to find the items in your array that are not present in the other arrays, array diff is your friend.

Here we have 3 arrays:

$people = [
   'php'      => 'amir',
   'feedhive' => 'simon',
   'twitter'  => 'pratham',
   'docker'   => 'francesco',
   'web3'     => 'oliver',
   'saas'     => 'simon'
];
$peopleA = [
   'php'      => 'amir updated',
   'feedhive' => 'simon',
   'twitter'  => 'pratham updated',
];
$peopleB = [
   'twitter'  => 'pratham updated',
   'docker'   => 'francesco updated',
   'web3'     => 'oliver'
];

Array Diff

we want to find the items in people array that are not present in peopleA and peopleB arrays.

There are 3 different array diff functions and we should choose them based on what we want to compare.

array_diff if we want to compare based on values

array_diff_key if we want to compare based on keys

array_diff_assoc if we want to compare based on keys and values

Let’s see what is the result of each on of them

$people = [
   'php'      => 'amir',
   'feedhive' => 'simon',
   'twitter'  => 'pratham',
   'docker'   => 'francesco',
   'web3'     => 'oliver',
   'saas'     => 'simon'
];
$peopleA = [
   'php'      => 'amir updated',
   'feedhive' => 'simon',
   'twitter'  => 'pratham updated',
];
$peopleB = [
   'twitter'  => 'pratham updated',
   'docker'   => 'francesco updated',
   'web3'     => 'oliver'
];
array_diff($people,$peopleA,$peopleB);
// Array (
//      [php]       => amir
//      [twitter]   => pratham
//      [docker]    => francesco
// )
array_diff_key($people,$peopleA,$peopleB);
// Array (
//      [saas] => simon
// )
array_diff_assoc($people,$peopleA,$peopleB);
// Array (
//      [php]       => amir
//      [twitter]   => pratham
//      [docker]    => francesco
//      [saas]      => simon
// )

Conclusion

Now you know about array diff function in PHP.

I recommend you to open a PHP files and try to define multiple arrays. then try to find the values are different in the arrays.

If you have any suggestions, questions, or opinions, please contact me. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Key takeaways

• array diff function in PHP
• array diff based on keys
• array diff based on values
• array diff based on keys and values