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Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2021 16:10:50 +0200
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To: Marco Pivetta <ocramius@gmail.com>
Cc: PHP internals <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Option for array_column() to preserve keys.
From: andreas@dqxtech.net (Andreas Hennings)

Thanks for the feedback so far!

On Wed, 8 Sept 2021 at 10:13, Marco Pivetta <ocramius@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Heyo,
>
> On Wed, 8 Sep 2021, 02:19 Andreas Hennings, <andreas@dqxtech.net> wrote:
>>
>> Hello internals,
>>
>> The function array_column() would be much more useful if there was an
>> option to preserve the original array keys.
>> I can create an RFC, but I think it is better to first discuss the optio=
ns.
>
>
> New function, please =F0=9F=99=8F

I am not opposed. But I am also curious what others think.
What I don't like so much is how the situation with two different
functions will have a "historically grown wtf" smell about it.
But this is perhaps preferable to BC breaks or overly "magic"
parameters or overly crowded signatures.

If we go for a new function:
A name could be array_column_assoc().

array_column_assoc(array $array, string $value_key)

This would behave the same as array_column($array, $value_key), but
preserve original keys.
Items which are not arrays or which lack the key will be omitted.
A $value_key =3D=3D=3D NULL would be useless, because this would simply
return the original array.

The question is, should it do anything beyond the most obvious?
Or should we leave it minimal for now, with the potential for
additional parameters in the future?

Limitations:
If some items are omitted, it will be awkward to restore the missing
items while preserving the order of the array.

Possible ideas for additional functionality:
- Replicate a lot of the behavior of array_column(), e.g. with an
optional $index_key parameter. This would be mostly redundant.
- Additional functionality for nested arrays?
- Fallback value for entries that don't have the key? Or perhaps even
a fallback callback like with array_map()?
- Option to capture missing entries e.g. in a by-reference variable?

A benefit of keeping the limited functionality would be that
programming errors are revealed more easily due to the strict
signature.

A question is how we would look at this long term:
Do we want both functions to co-exist long-term, or do we want to
deprecate one of them at some point?
If array_column() is going to stay, then array_column_assoc() only
needs to cover the few use cases that are missing.

-- Andreas