Convert the first element of an array to a string in PHP

Question

I have a PHP array and want to convert it to a string.

I know I can use join or implode, but in my case array has only one item. Why do I

Answer 1

If your goal is output your array to a string for debbuging: you can use the print_r() function, which receives an expression parameter (your array), and an optional boolean return parameter. Normally the function is used to echo the array, but if you set the return parameter as true, it will return the array impression.

Example:

    //We create a 2-dimension Array as an example
    $ProductsArray = array();

    $row_array['Qty'] = 20;
    $row_array['Product'] = "Cars";

    array_push($ProductsArray,$row_array);

    $row_array2['Qty'] = 30;
    $row_array2['Product'] = "Wheels";

    array_push($ProductsArray,$row_array2);

    //We save the Array impression into a variable using the print_r function
    $ArrayString = print_r($ProductsArray, 1);

    //You can echo the string
    echo $ArrayString;

    //or Log the string into a Log file
    $date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", time());
    $LogFile = "Log.txt";
    $fh = fopen($LogFile, 'a') or die("can't open file");
    $stringData = "--".$date."\n".$ArrayString."\n";
    fwrite($fh, $stringData);
    fclose($fh);

This will be the output:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [Qty] => 20
            [Product] => Cars
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [Qty] => 30
            [Product] => Wheels
        )

)