array_udiff

(PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

array_udiff — Computes the difference of arrays by using a callback function for data comparison

Description

array_udiff(array $array, array ...$arrays, callable $value_compare_func): array

Computes the difference of arrays by using a callback function for data comparison. This is unlike array_diff() which uses an internal function for comparing the data.

Parameters

array: The first array.
arrays: Arrays to compare against.
value_compare_func: The comparison function must return an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the first argument is considered to be respectively less than, equal to, or greater than the second.

callback(mixed $a, mixed $b): int

Caution
Returning non-integer values from the comparison function, such as float, will result in an internal cast to int of the callback's return value. So values such as 0.99 and 0.1 will both be cast to an integer value of 0, which will compare such values as equal.

Caution
The sorting callback must handle any value from any array in any order, regardless of the order they were originally provided. This is because each individual array is first sorted before being compared against other arrays. For example:

<?php $arrayA = ["string", 1]; $arrayB = [["value" => 1]]; // $item1 and $item2 can be any of "string", 1 or ["value" => 1] $compareFunc = static function ($item1, $item2) { $value1 = is_string($item1) ? strlen($item1) : (is_array($item1) ? $item1["value"] : $item1); $value2 = is_string($item2) ? strlen($item2) : (is_array($item2) ? $item2["value"] : $item2); return $value1 <=> $value2; }; ?>

Return Values

Returns an array containing all the values of array that are not present in any of the other arguments.

Examples

Example #1 array_udiff() example using stdClass Objects

<?php
// Arrays to compare
$array1 = array(new stdClass, new stdClass,
                new stdClass, new stdClass,
               );

$array2 = array(
                new stdClass, new stdClass,
               );

// Set some properties for each object
$array1[0]->width = 11; $array1[0]->height = 3;
$array1[1]->width = 7;  $array1[1]->height = 1;
$array1[2]->width = 2;  $array1[2]->height = 9;
$array1[3]->width = 5;  $array1[3]->height = 7;

$array2[0]->width = 7;  $array2[0]->height = 5;
$array2[1]->width = 9;  $array2[1]->height = 2;

function compare_by_area($a, $b) {
    $areaA = $a->width * $a->height;
    $areaB = $b->width * $b->height;
    
    if ($areaA < $areaB) {
        return -1;
    } elseif ($areaA > $areaB) {
        return 1;
    } else {
        return 0;
    }
}

print_r(array_udiff($array1, $array2, 'compare_by_area'));
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [0] => stdClass Object
        (
            [width] => 11
            [height] => 3
        )

    [1] => stdClass Object
        (
            [width] => 7
            [height] => 1
        )

)

Example #2 array_udiff() example using DateTime Objects

<?php
class MyCalendar {
    public $free = array();
    public $booked = array();

    public function __construct($week = 'now') {
        $start = new DateTime($week);
        $start->modify('Monday this week midnight');
        $end = clone $start;
        $end->modify('Friday this week midnight');
        $interval = new DateInterval('P1D');
        foreach (new DatePeriod($start, $interval, $end) as $freeTime) {
            $this->free[] = $freeTime;
        }
    }

    public function bookAppointment(DateTime $date, $note) {
        $this->booked[] = array('date' => $date->modify('midnight'), 'note' => $note);
    }

    public function checkAvailability() {
        return array_udiff($this->free, $this->booked, array($this, 'customCompare'));
    }
    
    public function customCompare($free, $booked) {
        if (is_array($free)) $a = $free['date'];
        else $a = $free;
        if (is_array($booked)) $b = $booked['date'];
        else $b = $booked;
        if ($a == $b) {
            return 0;
        } elseif ($a > $b) {
            return 1;
        } else {
            return -1;
        }
    }
}

// Create a calendar for weekly appointments
$myCalendar = new MyCalendar;

// Book some appointments for this week
$myCalendar->bookAppointment(new DateTime('Monday this week'), "Cleaning GoogleGuy's apartment.");
$myCalendar->bookAppointment(new DateTime('Wednesday this week'), "Going on a snowboarding trip.");
$myCalendar->bookAppointment(new DateTime('Friday this week'), "Fixing buggy code.");

// Check availability of days by comparing $booked dates against $free dates
echo "I'm available on the following days this week...\n\n";
foreach ($myCalendar->checkAvailability() as $free) {
    echo $free->format('l'), "\n"; 
}
echo "\n\n";
echo "I'm busy on the following days this week...\n\n";
foreach ($myCalendar->booked as $booked) {
    echo $booked['date']->format('l'), ": ", $booked['note'], "\n"; 
}
?>

The above example will output:

I'm available on the following days this week...

Tuesday
Thursday


I'm busy on the following days this week...

Monday: Cleaning GoogleGuy's apartment.
Wednesday: Going on a snowboarding trip.
Friday: Fixing buggy code.

Notes

Note: Please note that this function only checks one dimension of a n-dimensional array. Of course you can check deeper dimensions by using array_udiff($array1[0], $array2[0], "data_compare_func");.

User Contributed Notes 9 notes

down

Colin ¶

18 years ago


I think the example given here using classes is convoluting things too much to demonstrate what this function does.

array_udiff() will walk through array_values($a) and array_values($b) and compare each value by using the passed in callback function.

To put it another way, array_udiff() compares $a[0] to $b[0], $b[1], $b[2], and $b[3] using the provided callback function.  If the callback returns zero for any of the comparisons then $a[0] will not be in the returned array from array_udiff().  It then compares $a[1] to $b[0], $b[1], $b[2], and $b[3].  Then, finally, $a[2] to $b[0], $b[1], $b[2], and $b[3].

For example, compare_ids($a[0], $b[0]) === -5 while compare_ids($a[1], $b[1]) === 0.  Therefore, $a[1] is not returned from array_udiff() since it is present in $b.

<?
$a = array(
        array(
                'id' => 10,
                'name' => 'John',
                'color' => 'red',
        ),
        array(
                'id' => 20,
                'name' => 'Elise',
                'color' => 'blue',
        ),
        array(
                'id' => 30,
                'name' => 'Mark',
                'color' => 'red',
        ),
);

$b = array(
        array(
                'id' => 15,
                'name' => 'Nancy',
                'color' => 'black',
        ),
        array(
                'id' => 20,
                'name' => 'Elise',
                'color' => 'blue',
        ),
        array(
                'id' => 30,
                'name' => 'Mark',
                'color' => 'red',
        ),
        array(
                'id' => 40,
                'name' => 'John',
                'color' => 'orange',
        ),
);

function compare_ids($a, $b)
{
    return ($a['id'] - $b['id']);
}
function compare_names($a, $b)
{
    return strcmp($a['name'], $b['name']);
}

$ret = array_udiff($a, $b, 'compare_ids');
var_dump($ret);

$ret = array_udiff($b, $a, 'compare_ids');
var_dump($ret);

$ret = array_udiff($a, $b, 'compare_names');
var_dump($ret);
?>

Which returns the following.

In the first return we see that $b has no entry in it with an id of 10.
<?
array(1) {
  [0]=>
  array(3) {
    ["id"]=>
    int(10)
    ["name"]=>
    string(4) "John"
    ["color"]=>
    string(3) "red"
  }
}
?>

In the second return we see that $a has no entry in it with an id of 15 or 40.
<?
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  array(3) {
    ["id"]=>
    int(15)
    ["name"]=>
    string(5) "Nancy"
    ["color"]=>
    string(5) "black"
  }
  [3]=>
  array(3) {
    ["id"]=>
    int(40)
    ["name"]=>
    string(4) "John"
    ["color"]=>
    string(6) "orange"
  }
}
?>

In third return we see that all names in $a are in $b (even though the entry in $b whose name is 'John' is different, the anonymous function is only comparing names).
<?
array(0) {
}
?>

down

napcoder ¶

8 years ago


Note that the compare function is used also internally, to order the arrays and choose which element compare against in the next round.

If your compare function is not really comparing (ie. returns 0 if elements are equals, 1 otherwise), you will receive an unexpected result.

down

grantwparks at gmail dot com ¶

16 years ago


Re: "convoluted"

I think the point being made is that array_udiff() can be used not only for comparisons between homogenous arrays, as in your example (and definitely the most common need), but it can be used to compare heterogeneous arrays, too.

Consider:

<?php
function compr_1($a, $b) {
    $aVal = is_array($a) ? $a['last_name'] : $a;
    $bVal = is_array($b) ? $b['last_name'] : $b;
    return strcasecmp($aVal, $bVal);
}

$aEmployees = array(
    array('last_name'  => 'Smith',
            'first_name' => 'Joe',
            'phone'      => '555-1000'),
    array('last_name'  => 'Doe',
            'first_name' => 'John',
            'phone'      => '555-2000'),
    array('last_name'  => 'Flagg',
            'first_name' => 'Randall',
            'phone'      => '666-1000')
    );

$aNames = array('Doe', 'Smith', 'Johnson');
    
$result = array_udiff($aEmployees, $aNames, "compr_1");

print_r($result);
?>

Allowing me to get the "employee" that's not in the name list:

Array ( [2] => Array ( [last_name] => Flagg [first_name] => Randall [phone] => 666-1000 ) )

Something interesting to note, is that the two arguments to the compare function don't correspond to array1 and array2.  That's why there has to be logic in it to handle that either of the arguments might be pointing to the more complex employee array.  (Found this out the hard way.)

down

adam dot jorgensen dot za at gmail dot com ¶

16 years ago


It is not stated, by this function also diffs array1 to itself, removing any duplicate values...

down

b4301775 at klzlk dot com ¶

13 years ago


Quick example for using array_udiff to do a multi-dimensional diff



Returns values of $arr1 that are not in $arr2



<?php

$arr1 = array( array('Bob', 42), array('Phil', 37), array('Frank', 39) );

        

$arr2 = array( array('Phil', 37), array('Mark', 45) );

        

$arr3 = array_udiff($arr1, $arr2, create_function(

    '$a,$b',

    'return strcmp( implode("", $a), implode("", $b) ); ')

    );

        

print_r($arr3);

?>



Output:



Array

(

    [0] => Array

        (

            [0] => Bob

            [1] => 42

        )

 

    [2] => Array

        (

            [0] => Frank

            [1] => 39

        )

 

)

1



Hope this helps someone

down

Jorge Morales (morales2k) ¶

5 years ago


I find it that this is an ideal place to apply the spaceship operator, but it was not used in the examples. 

Here is Example#1 using the spaceship operator in the comparison function. 

    <?php
    // Arrays to compare
    $array1 = array(new stdclass, new stdclass,
                    new stdclass, new stdclass,
                   );

    $array2 = array(
                    new stdclass, new stdclass,
                   );

    // Set some properties for each object
    $array1[0]->width = 11; $array1[0]->height = 3;
    $array1[1]->width = 7;  $array1[1]->height = 1;
    $array1[2]->width = 2;  $array1[2]->height = 9;
    $array1[3]->width = 5;  $array1[3]->height = 7;

    $array2[0]->width = 7;  $array2[0]->height = 5;
    $array2[1]->width = 9;  $array2[1]->height = 2;

    function compare_by_area($a, $b) {
        $areaA = $a->width * $a->height;
        $areaB = $b->width * $b->height;
    
        return $areaA <=> $areaB;
    }

    print_r(array_udiff($array1, $array2, 'compare_by_area'));
    ?>

The output is:
    Array
    (
        [0] => stdClass Object
            (
                [width] => 11
                [height] => 3
            )
    
        [1] => stdClass Object
            (
                [width] => 7
                [height] => 1
            )
    
    )

I find it is pretty awesome you can substitute all of these lines:
    if ($areaA < $areaB) {
        return -1;
    } elseif ($areaA > $areaB) {
        return 1;
    } else {
        return 0;
    }

with just:

    return $areaA <=> $areaB;

Neat!

down

dmhouse at gmail dot com ¶

19 years ago


Very easy way of achieving a case-insensitive version of array_diff (or indeed array_diff_assoc, array_intersect or any of these types of functions which have a similar function that takes a callback function as one of their parameters):

array_udiff($array1, $array2, 'strcasecmp');

This works because strcasecmp() compares two strings case-insensitively, as compared to the array_diff() which compares two strings by using the == operator, which is case-sensitive.

down

-1

jared ¶

15 years ago


Note that php does the string conversion *before* sending the values to the callback function.

down

-2

aidan at php dot net ¶

20 years ago


This functionality is now implemented in the PEAR package PHP_Compat.

More information about using this function without upgrading your version of PHP can be found on the below link:

http://pear.php.net/package/PHP_Compat

add a note

array_udiff

Description

Parameters

Return Values

Examples

Notes

See Also

User Contributed Notes 9 notes