PHP Manual: Set the internal pointer of an array to its first element

Description

mixed reset(arrayobject &$array)

reset rewinds array's internal pointer to the first element and returns the value of the first array element.

Parameters

array: The input array.

Return Values

Returns the value of the first array element, or false if the array is empty.

Warning

This function may return Boolean false, but may also return a non-Boolean value which evaluates to false. Please read the section on Booleans for more information. Use the === operator for testing the return value of this function.

Changelog

Version	Description
8.1.0	Calling this function on objects is deprecated. Either convert the object to an array using get_mangled_object_vars first, or use the methods provided by a class that implements Iterator, such as ArrayIterator, instead.
7.4.0	Instances of SPL classes are now treated like empty objects that have no properties instead of calling the Iterator method with the same name as this function.

Examples

Example #1 reset example

<?php

$array = array('step one', 'step two', 'step three', 'step four');

// by default, the pointer is on the first element
echo current($array) . "<br />\n"; // "step one"

// skip two steps
next($array);
next($array);
echo current($array) . "<br />\n"; // "step three"

// reset pointer, start again on step one
reset($array);
echo current($array) . "<br />\n"; // "step one"

?>

Notes

Note: The return value for an empty array is indistinguishable from the return value in case of an array which has a bool false first element. To properly check the value of the first element of an array which may contain false elements, first check the count of the array, or check that key is not null, after calling reset.

reset