_array

05 June 2008 // php. things.

_array is a (yet another) attempt to create object oriented API for php arrays.

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_array is a class that provides a set of simple and "fluent" methods.

For example, this "raw php" code is verbose and inconsistent.

$a = explode(' ', 'FOO BAR');
$a = array_map('strtolower', $a);
sort($a);
echo implode(', ', $a); # "bar, foo"

Using _array, the same is as simple as:

echo _w('FOO BAR')->map('strtolower')->sort(); # "bar, foo"

Another example:

// read users from db
$qry = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM user");
$users = array();
while($rec = mysql_fetch_assoc($qry))
    $users[] = $rec;

// create list of names
$names = array();
foreach($users as $rec)
    $names[] = $users['name'];

// remove admin
$n = array_search('admin', $names);
if($n !== false)
    array_splice($names, $n, 1);

// format and print
$names = array_map('ucfirst', $names);
sort($names);
echo implode("<br>", $names);

with _array, this will be only two lines:

$users = _array()->from_call('mysql_fetch_assoc', mysql_query("SELECT * FROM user"));
echo $users->pluck('name')->remove('admin')->map('ucfirst')->sort()->join("<br>");

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compact version (with comments stripped)

documentation

test file (requires testik)