Get first element in PHP stdObject

Question

I have an object (stored as $videos) that looks like this

object(stdClass)#19 (3) {
  [0]=>
  object(stdClass)#20 (22) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(1) "123"

  etc...

I want to get the ID of just that first element, without having to loop over it.

If it were an array, I would do this:

$videos[0]['id']

It used to work as this:

$videos[0]->id

But now I get an error "Cannot use object of type stdClass as array..." on the line shown above. Possibly due to a PHP upgrade.

So how do I get to that first ID without looping? Is it possible?

Thanks!

score 79 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 30 '13 at 06:22

79

Both array() and the stdClass objects can be accessed using the current() key() next() prev() reset() end() functions.

So, if your object looks like

object(stdClass)#19 (3) {
  [0]=>
  object(stdClass)#20 (22) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(1) "123"
  etc...

Then you can just do;

$id = reset($obj)->id; //Gets the 'id' attr of the first entry in the object

If you need the key for some reason, you can do;

reset($obj); //Ensure that we're at the first element
$key = key($obj);

Hope that works for you. :-) No errors, even in super-strict mode, on PHP 5.4

answered Aug 30 '13 at 06:22

MrTrick

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reset() and end() are nice because you don't need to know the key, just the position (first or last). – jonathanbell Dec 24 '16 at 16:21
They should have named reset() like first() or something similar to make more sense. This answer is the correct one. The correct answer does not work. – Andres Ramos Nov 03 '17 at 17:02
1

Moving on to the best practices and OOPS, this answer must be marked as corrected, although my answer provides the solution its not the best method. – Clain Dsilva Feb 10 '19 at 13:35

score 72 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 10 '21 at 10:25

72

Update PHP 7.4

Curly brace access syntax is deprecated since PHP 7.4

Update 2019

Moving on to the best practices of OOPS, @MrTrick's answer must be marked as correct, although my answer provides a hacked solution its not the best method.

Simply iterate its using {}

Example:

$videos{0}->id

This way your object is not destroyed and you can easily iterate through object.

For PHP 5.6 and below use this

$videos{0}['id']

edited Jan 10 '21 at 10:25

cocostru

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answered Nov 12 '13 at 04:43

Clain Dsilva

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Not really sure about if a documentation explicitly exist for this {} operator. But with experience, I know this is possible. You would be more interested to know that {} operator can be used to iterate through strings as well for eg: $str = "cool"; if you echo $str{0} it will output first letter "C" and echo $str{1} would output "o" and so on.. Give a Try.. – Clain Dsilva Jan 24 '14 at 08:30
4

With PHP 5.6, this is not possible. You get the following message: Cannot use object of type stdClass as array – Dereckson Nov 20 '14 at 04:19
@Dereckson { } works perfectly fine with PHP 5.6 with a little change in syntax by removing -> and using ['objectName']. The final code will be `$videos{0}['id']` . Php 5.4+ gives mores emphasis on objects hence -> may not work because {0} is already referencing the object. – Clain Dsilva Nov 21 '14 at 06:08
I'm sorry for the lack of precision in the previous comment. The fatal error is thrown when using the {0} on an object under PHP 5.6.2, not the ->id. – Dereckson Nov 21 '14 at 15:31
@Dereckson probably you are getting an error like this `Trying to get the property of a non object` as {0} still referees to a node on the object. While an identifier ->elementName or ['elementName'] is a must. – Clain Dsilva Nov 25 '14 at 09:37
1

No the error is exactly `Cannot use object of type stdClass as array` which is the error when you try to use a stdClass object as an array. stdClass DOES NOT inherit from base object class, and so doesn't offer this feature.` – Dereckson Nov 25 '14 at 14:44
@Dereckson Interesting to know, probably you should post you code on here on stack overflow, we could take a look into it, perhaps we have a solution for it. – Clain Dsilva Nov 26 '14 at 15:43
I spoke about the OP code. The solution is to use every other answer on this page, which all work. – Dereckson Nov 27 '14 at 20:24
@Dereckson knowing why a code does not works helps us to fix the issues and provide even more better answers. I guess you got my point , you are welcome to use any answer that works. – Clain Dsilva Nov 28 '14 at 12:54
it doesn't work on recent PHP versions as you have answered to another question. Instead of "in stdObject", you considered "in any object [inheriting of base object class]". Yet, stdObject isn't such an object in PHP, as it doesn't inherit from the base object class. – Dereckson Nov 28 '14 at 19:09
@Dereckson I am confused, wonder how you use the class directly without inheriting 0r creating an object? Its worth giving you code here on a new question – Clain Dsilva Nov 29 '14 at 04:41
@Dereckson on an other note this works fine on the latest version tested with PHP 5.6 and works great. – Clain Dsilva Nov 29 '14 at 04:49
@sure off course I can, please post your stdObject code we can take it from there. – Clain Dsilva Dec 01 '14 at 08:16
My method of accessing the child object was `$videos->{0}` or `$videos->{0}->id` in PHP 5.6.7. I couldn't see this mentioned here. – Francis Booth Jun 12 '15 at 21:50
1

Just want to note that this does not work when a object has defined / string key. – MKN Web Solutions Mar 10 '16 at 20:23
@MKNWebSolutions even a defined sting or Key has an internal numeric key hence this works.. Or can you provide us with an example? – Clain Dsilva Mar 16 '16 at 07:06
@ClainDsilva stdObject as $x = {"xyz":123}, using $x->{0} would not return that first element. – MKN Web Solutions Mar 16 '16 at 16:44
@MKNWebSolutions you are talking about stdClass which is not our point of discussion we are talking about the base class, PHP differs a lot in Standard Class and Base class.. You should read this to get more insights http://stackoverflow.com/questions/931407/what-is-stdclass-in-php – Clain Dsilva Mar 19 '16 at 03:24
@Clain Dsilva: You're wrong. You cannot iterate over the letters but bytes. It's totally different. – John Smith Apr 28 '16 at 20:49
@JohnSmith Prove me wrong or try this yourself `$str = "Its Possible"; for($i = 0; $i < strlen($str); $i++) { echo $str{$i}."
";}` – Clain Dsilva Apr 30 '16 at 11:03
2

@Clain Dsilva: Deal with string "Grzegrzółka" – John Smith Apr 30 '16 at 19:39
@JohnSmith I see your point on multi byte Unicode chars , so its bytes and not characters... Thanks for proving me wrong..!! I learned something new today. – Clain Dsilva May 03 '16 at 07:44

score 22 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 17 '14 at 13:24

22

much easier:

$firstProp = current( (Array)$object );

edited Apr 17 '14 at 13:24

Mureinik

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answered Apr 17 '14 at 13:07

Patrick

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This is great if you don't know the node name. – Bryan Aug 30 '17 at 18:35

score 17 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 15 '13 at 23:38

17

Correct:

$videos= (Array)$videos;
$video = $videos[0];

edited Apr 15 '13 at 23:38

Ben D

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answered Dec 11 '12 at 20:36

froilanq

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5

Good answer, but it's not really helping me navigate through an object, it's just converting it to an array and then navigating it as an array. – Drew Baker Dec 13 '12 at 00:43

Biraj Bora · Answer 5 · 2016-04-11T05:58:18.300

$videos->{0}->id worked for me.

Since $videos and {0} both are objects, so we have to access id with $videos->{0}->id. The curly braces are required around 0, as omitting the braces will produce a syntax error : unexpected '0', expecting identifier or variable or '{' or '$'.

I'm using PHP 5.4.3.

In my case, neither $videos{0}->id and $videos{0}['id'] worked and shows error :

Cannot use object of type stdClass as array.

Rolf · Answer 6 · 2019-03-29T15:13:13.347

5

You could loop on the object maybe and break in the first loop... Something like

foreach($obj as $prop) {
   $first_prop = $prop;
   break; // exits the foreach loop
}

edited Mar 29 '19 at 15:13

answered Jul 10 '13 at 14:12

Rolf

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score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 05 '17 at 20:37

Playing with Php interactive shell, Php 7:

➜  ~ php -a
Interactive shell

php > $v = (object) ["toto" => "hello"];
php > var_dump($v);
object(stdClass)#1 (1) {
  ["toto"]=>
  string(5) "hello"
}
php > echo $v{0};
PHP Warning:  Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of type stdClass as array in php shell code:1
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in php shell code on line 1

Warning: Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of type stdClass as array in php shell code:1
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in php shell code on line 1
php > echo $v->{0};
PHP Notice:  Undefined property: stdClass::$0 in php shell code on line 1

Notice: Undefined property: stdClass::$0 in php shell code on line 1
php > echo current($v);
hello

Only current is working with object.

Get first element in PHP stdObject

7 Answers7

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