Accumulate strings and array values into an array as a class property via method

Question

I have a class with method add() that accepts strings and arrays. I need to have an array with all users, but I cannot seem to get it. All I get is multiple arrays with all users. How could I merge those arrays into one?

class Users {

    function add($stringOrArray) {
        $arr = array();
        if(is_array($stringOrArray)) {
            $arr = $stringOrArray;
            
        } else if(is_string($stringOrArray)) {
            $arr[] = $stringOrArray;
            
        } else {
          echo('errrrror');
        }
        print_r($arr);
        
    }

When I use this test:

public function testOne() {
    $users = new Users();
    $users->add('Terrell Irving');
    $users->add('Magdalen Sara Tanner');
    $users->add('Chad Niles');
    $users->add(['Mervin Spearing', 'Dean Willoughby', 'David Prescott']);

This is what I get, multiple arrays but I need one array.

Array
(
    [0] => Terrell Irving
)
Array
(
    [0] => Magdalen Sara Tanner
)
Array
(
    [0] => Chad Niles
)
Array
(
    [0] => Mervin Spearing
    [1] => Dean Willoughby
    [2] => David Prescott
)

`else if` should be a single word in PHP to comply with PSR-12 coding guidelines. — mickmackusa, Feb 26 '22 at 13:58

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 26 '22 at 13:48

You can cut a lot of unnecessary bloat from your method.

You can cast ALL incoming data to array type explicitly. This will convert a string into an array containing a single element. If the variable is already an array, nothing will change about the value.
Use the spread operator (...) to perform a variadic push into the class property.

Code: (Demo)

class Users
{
    public $listOfUsers = [];

    function add($stringOrArray): void
    {
        array_push($this->listOfUsers, ...(array)$stringOrArray);
    }
}

$users = new Users;
$users->add('Terrell Irving');
$users->add(['Magdalen Sara Tanner', 'Chad Niles']);
$users->add(['Mervin Spearing']);
var_export($users->listOfUsers);

Output:

array (
  0 => 'Terrell Irving',
  1 => 'Magdalen Sara Tanner',
  2 => 'Chad Niles',
  3 => 'Mervin Spearing',
)

ino · Answer 2 · 2022-02-26T13:26:15.923

All you need is to store the added users in a class property, for example $listOfUsers.

If adding the array you use the array_merge() function otherwise just add new user at the end of indexed array.

<?php 

class Users {

  // here will be all the users stored
  public $listOfUsers = array();

    function add($stringOrArray) {
        //$arr = array();
        if(is_array($stringOrArray)) {
            // merge two arrays - could create  duplicate records
            $this->listOfUsers = array_merge($this->listOfUsers, $stringOrArray);
            
        } else if(is_string($stringOrArray)) {
            // simply add new item into the array
            $this->listOfUsers[] = $stringOrArray;
            
        } else {
          echo('errrrror');
        }
        print_r($this->listOfUsers);
    }
}

In your example you are storing the data locally within the method add() and it is not kept for future usage. This behavior is corrected using the class property $listOfUsers that can be accesed using $this->listOfUsers within the class object and if needed outside of the class.

Accumulate strings and array values into an array as a class property via method

2 Answers2