Searching for consecutive values in an array

Question

What\'s the best way to search for consecutive values in an array?

For example, searching for array(\'a\', \'b\') in array(\'x\', \'a\', \'b\', \'c\

Answer 1

Haven't tested this, but something like this should do:

function consecutive_values(array $needle, array $haystack) {
    $i_max = count($haystack)-count($needle);
    $j_max = count($needle);
    for($i=0; $i<$i_max; ++$i) {
        $match = true;
        for($j=0; $j<$j_max; ++$j) {
            if($needle[$j]!=$haystack[$i+$j]) {
                $match = false;
                break;
            }
        }
        if($match) {
            return $i;
        }
    }
    return -1;
}