Iterate PHP array and check for duplicate values

Question

I am still new to PHP and I am creating a PHP array that consists of a person and their vehicle.

Example:

Array
(
    "owner" => "Person A",
    "car" => "BMW"
),
Array
(
    "owner" => "Person B",
    "car" => "Mercedes"
),
Array
(
    "owner" => "Person B",
    "car" => "BMW"
),
Array
(
    "owner" => "Person A",
    "car" => "BMW"
),
Array
(
    "owner" => "Person A",
    "car" => "DODGE"
)

Question:

What would be the proper way to iterate through the array and flag the duplicate BMW vehicle for Person A?

Thank you for your time and help!

since you don't tell us what you've tried... here, play around with this: php.net/manual/en/function.count.php or php.net/manual/en/function.array-count-values.php — user2506641
– user2506641, Commented Nov 17, 2016 at 20:03

Gerrit Luimstra · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-17 20:24:42Z

After reading your question (although pretty vague), I think I know what you're after.

I have written a little bit of PHP code that loads all data into a temporary object. The script checks if an owner already owns a car, before appending this to the temporary array. You can then choose what to do with a duplicate entry.

Note: I have modified your initial array a little bit, to make this script work.

`

$data = (object) array
    (
    array (
        "owner" => "Person A",
        "car" => "BMW"
    ),
    array (
        "owner" => "Person B",
        "car" => "Mercedes"
    ),
    array (
        "owner" => "Person B",
        "car" => "BMW"
    ),
    array (
        "owner" => "Person A",
        "car" => "BMW"
    ),
    array (
        "owner" => "Person A",
        "car" => "DODGE"
    )

);

$temp = (object) array();
// loop over the object to list every person
foreach($data as $row){

    // check if person already exists in the temp array, if not add it
    if(!property_exists($temp, $row['owner'])){
      $temp->$row['owner'] = array();
    };

    // load the cars into the right persons array
    if(in_array($row['car'], $temp->$row['owner'])){
        // Duplicate car.. do something.
    } else {
      array_push($temp->$row['owner'], $row['car']);
    }

}

echo "<pre>";
print_r($temp);
echo "</pre>";

`

Here is a live demo: http://phpfiddle.org/main/code/di0v-ugyr

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