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PHP | Delete an element from an array using unset() function

Given an array, we have to delete an element from it using the unset() function.
Submitted by Bhanu Sharma, on August 10, 2019 [Last updated : March 13, 2023]

unset() function

To remove an element from an array, we can use a PHP library unset() function, it accepts the index and removes the element exists on the specified index.

We are also using another function var_dump() – which dumps the variable details i.e. here, it will print the array variable.

PHP code to delete an element using unset()

<?php
//PHP code to remove an element from an array 

//declaring an array of strings
$array = array('the','quick','brown','fox');

//printing the array variable
var_dump($array);

//removing element from 1st index
unset ($array[1]);

//again, printing the array variable
var_dump($array);

//assigning the array after removing its element
//from 1st index to the new array
$array_new=array_values($array);

//printing the new array variable
var_dump($array_new);
?>

Output

array(4) {
  [0]=>
  string(3) "the"
  [1]=>
  string(5) "quick"  
  [2]=>
  string(5) "brown"  
  [3]=>
  string(3) "fox" 
}
array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(3) "the" 
  [2]=>
  string(5) "brown"  
  [3]=>
  string(3) "fox" 
}
array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(3) "the" 
  [1]=>
  string(5) "brown"  
  [2]=>
  string(3) "fox" 
}

Explanation

Here, We've created an array ($array) and then used the PHP unset() method to remove index 1 (which is the 2^nd value since array starts from 0). Once that's removed, we print the array using var_dump but there is a problem that the indexes haven't updated. So, we create $array_new by using array_values() method on the existing $array.

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