Array Functions

array_map

Applies the callback to the elements of the given arrays

Description

array array_map(callablenull $callback, array $array, array ...$arrays)

array_map returns an array containing the results of applying the callback to the corresponding value of array (and arrays if more arrays are provided) used as arguments for the callback. The number of parameters that the callback function accepts should match the number of arrays passed to array_map. Excess input arrays are ignored. An ArgumentCountError is thrown if an insufficient number of arguments is provided.

Parameters

callback

A callable to run for each element in each array.

null can be passed as a value to callback to perform a zip operation on multiple arrays and return an array whose elements are each an array holding the elements of the input arrays of the same index (see example below). If only array is provided, array_map will return the input array.

array

An array to run through the callback function.

arrays

Supplementary variable list of array arguments to run through the callback function.

Return Values

Returns an array containing the results of applying the callback function to the corresponding value of array (and arrays if more arrays are provided) used as arguments for the callback.

The returned array will preserve the keys of the array argument if and only if exactly one array is passed. If more than one array is passed, the returned array will have sequential integer keys.

Changelog

Version	Description
8.0.0	If `callback` expects a parameter to be passed by reference, this function will now emit an `E_WARNING`.

Examples

Example #1 array_map example

<?php
function cube($n)
{
    return ($n * $n * $n);
}

$a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$b = array_map('cube', $a);
print_r($b);
?>

This makes $b have:

Array
(
    [0] => 1
    [1] => 8
    [2] => 27
    [3] => 64
    [4] => 125
)

Example #2 array_map using a lambda function

<?php
$func = function(int $value): int {
    return $value * 2;
};

print_r(array_map($func, range(1, 5)));

// Or as of PHP 7.4.0:

print_r(array_map(fn($value): int => $value * 2, range(1, 5)));

?>

Array
(
    [0] => 2
    [1] => 4
    [2] => 6
    [3] => 8
    [4] => 10
)

Example #3 array_map - using more arrays

<?php
function show_Spanish(int $n, string $m): string
{
    return "The number {$n} is called {$m} in Spanish";
}

function map_Spanish(int $n, string $m): array
{
    return [$n => $m];
}

$a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$b = ['uno', 'dos', 'tres', 'cuatro', 'cinco'];

$c = array_map('show_Spanish', $a, $b);
print_r($c);

$d = array_map('map_Spanish', $a , $b);
print_r($d);
?>

The above example will output:

// printout of $c
Array
(
    [0] => The number 1 is called uno in Spanish
    [1] => The number 2 is called dos in Spanish
    [2] => The number 3 is called tres in Spanish
    [3] => The number 4 is called cuatro in Spanish
    [4] => The number 5 is called cinco in Spanish
)

// printout of $d
Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [1] => uno
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [2] => dos
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [3] => tres
        )

    [3] => Array
        (
            [4] => cuatro
        )

    [4] => Array
        (
            [5] => cinco
        )

)

Usually when using two or more arrays, they should be of equal length because the callback function is applied in parallel to the corresponding elements. If the arrays are of unequal length, shorter ones will be extended with empty elements to match the length of the longest.

An interesting use of this function is to construct an array of arrays, which can be easily performed by using null as the name of the callback function

Example #4 Performing a zip operation of arrays

<?php
$a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$b = ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five'];
$c = ['uno', 'dos', 'tres', 'cuatro', 'cinco'];

$d = array_map(null, $a, $b, $c);
print_r($d);
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
            [1] => one
            [2] => uno
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2
            [1] => two
            [2] => dos
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [0] => 3
            [1] => three
            [2] => tres
        )

    [3] => Array
        (
            [0] => 4
            [1] => four
            [2] => cuatro
        )

    [4] => Array
        (
            [0] => 5
            [1] => five
            [2] => cinco
        )

)

Example #5 null callback with only array

<?php
$array = [1, 2, 3];
var_dump(array_map(null, $array));
?>

The above example will output:

array(3) {
  [0]=>
  int(1)
  [1]=>
  int(2)
  [2]=>
  int(3)
}

Example #6 array_map - with string keys

<?php
$arr = ['stringkey' => 'value'];
function cb1($a) {
    return [$a];
}
function cb2($a, $b) {
    return [$a, $b];
}
var_dump(array_map('cb1', $arr));
var_dump(array_map('cb2', $arr, $arr));
var_dump(array_map(null,  $arr));
var_dump(array_map(null, $arr, $arr));
?>

The above example will output:

array(1) {
  ["stringkey"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(5) "value"
  }
}
array(1) {
  [0]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(5) "value"
    [1]=>
    string(5) "value"
  }
}
array(1) {
  ["stringkey"]=>
  string(5) "value"
}
array(1) {
  [0]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(5) "value"
    [1]=>
    string(5) "value"
  }
}

Example #7 array_map - associative arrays

While array_map does not directly support using the array key as an input, that may be simulated using array_keys.

<?php
$arr = [
    'v1' => 'First release',
    'v2' => 'Second release',
    'v3' => 'Third release',
];

// Note: Before 7.4.0, use the longer syntax for anonymous functions instead.
$callback = fn(string $k, string $v): string => "$k was the $v";

$result = array_map($callback, array_keys($arr), array_values($arr));

var_dump($result);
?>

The above example will output:

array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(24) "v1 was the First release"
  [1]=>
  string(25) "v2 was the Second release"
  [2]=>
  string(24) "v3 was the Third release"
}

See Also

array_filter
array_reduce
array_walk