PHP - Check if two arrays are equal

Question

I'd like to check if two arrays are equal. I mean: same size, same index, same values. How can I do that?

Using !== as suggested by a user, I expect that the following would print enter if at least one element in the array(s) are different, but in fact it does not.

if (($_POST['atlOriginal'] !== $oldAtlPosition) 
    or ($_POST['atl'] !== $aext) 
    or ($_POST['sidesOriginal'] !== $oldSidePosition) 
    or ($_POST['sidesOriginal'] !== $sideext)) {

    echo "enter";
}

Answer 1

$arraysAreEqual = ($a == $b); // TRUE if $a and $b have the same key/value pairs.
$arraysAreEqual = ($a === $b); // TRUE if $a and $b have the same key/value pairs in the same order and of the same types.

See Array Operators.

EDIT

The inequality operator is != while the non-identity operator is !== to match the equality operator == and the identity operator ===.

Answer 2

According to this page.

NOTE: The accepted answer works for associative arrays, but it will not work as expected with indexed arrays (explained below). If you want to compare either of them, then use this solution. Also, this function may not works with multidimensional arrays (due to the nature of array_diff function).

Testing two indexed arrays, which elements are in different order, using $a == $b or $a === $b fails, for example:

<?php
    (array("x","y") == array("y","x")) === false;
?>

That is because the above means:

array(0 => "x", 1 => "y") vs. array(0 => "y", 1 => "x").

To solve that issue, use:

<?php
function array_equal($a, $b) {
    return (
         is_array($a) 
         && is_array($b) 
         && count($a) == count($b) 
         && array_diff($a, $b) === array_diff($b, $a)
    );
}
?>

Comparing array sizes was added (suggested by super_ton) as it may improve speed.

Answer 3

Try serialize. This will check nested subarrays as well.

$foo =serialize($array_foo);
$bar =serialize($array_bar);
if ($foo == $bar) echo "Foo and bar are equal";

Answer 4

Short solution that works even with arrays which keys are given in different order:

public static function arrays_are_equal($array1, $array2)
{
    array_multisort($array1);
    array_multisort($array2);
    return ( serialize($array1) === serialize($array2) );
}

Answer 5

Compare them as other values:

if($array_a == $array_b) {
  //they are the same
}

You can read about all array operators here: http://php.net/manual/en/language.operators.array.php Note for example that === also checks that the types and order of the elements in the arrays are the same.

Answer 6

!=== will not work because it's a syntax error. The correct way is !== (not three "equal to" symbols)

Answer 7

if (array_diff($a,$b) == array_diff($b,$a)) {
  // Equals
}

if (array_diff($a,$b) != array_diff($b,$a)) {
  // Not Equals
}

From my pov it's better to use array_diff than array_intersect because with checks of this nature the differences returned commonly are less than the similarities, this way the bool conversion is less memory hungry.

Edit Note that this solution is for plain arrays and complements the == and === one posted above that is only valid for dictionaries.

Answer 8

function compareIsEqualArray(array $array1,array $array):bool
{

   return (array_diff($array1,$array2)==[] && array_diff($array2,$array1)==[]);

}

Answer 9

Another method for checking equality regardless of value order works by using http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-intersect.php, like so:

$array1 = array(2,5,3);
$array2 = array(5,2,3);
if($array1 === array_intersect($array1, $array2) && $array2 === array_intersect($array2, $array1)) {
    echo 'Equal';
} else {
    echo 'Not equal';
}

Here's a version that works also with multidimensional arrays using http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-uintersect.php:

$array1 = array(
    array(5, 2),
    array(3, 6),
    array(2, 9, 4)
);
$array2 = array(
    array(3, 6),
    array(2, 9, 4),
    array(5, 2)
);

if($array1 === array_uintersect($array1, $array2, 'compare') && $array2 === array_uintersect($array2, $array1, 'compare')) {
    echo 'Equal';
} else {
    echo 'Not equal';
}

function compare($v1, $v2) {
    if ($v1===$v2) {
        return 0;
    }
    if ($v1 > $v2) return 1;
    return -1;
}

Answer 10

array_diff — Computes the difference of arrays

http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-diff.php

array array_diff ( array $array1 , array $array2 [, array $... ] )

Compares array1 against one or more other arrays and returns the values in array1 that are not present in any of the other arrays.

Answer 11

Syntax problem on your arrays

$array1 = array(
    'a' => 'value1',
    'b' => 'value2',
    'c' => 'value3',
 );

$array2 = array(
    'a' => 'value1',
    'b' => 'value2',
    'c' => 'value3',
 );

$diff = array_diff($array1, $array2);

var_dump($diff); 

Answer 12

One way: (implementing 'considered equal' for http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6902#section-4.6)

This way allows associative arrays whose members are ordered differently - e.g. they'd be considered equal in every language but php :)

// recursive ksort
function rksort($a) {
  if (!is_array($a)) {
    return $a;
  }
  foreach (array_keys($a) as $key) {
    $a[$key] = ksort($a[$key]);
  }
  // SORT_STRING seems required, as otherwise
  // numeric indices (e.g. "0") aren't sorted.
  ksort($a, SORT_STRING);
  return $a;
}


// Per http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6902#section-4.6
function considered_equal($a1, $a2) {
  return json_encode(rksort($a1)) === json_encode(rksort($a2));
}

Answer 13

Here is the example how to compare to arrays and get what is different between them.

$array1 = ['1' => 'XXX', 'second' => [
            'a' => ['test' => '2'],
            'b' => 'test'
        ], 'b' => ['no test']];

        $array2 = [
            '1' => 'XX',
            'second' => [
                'a' => ['test' => '5', 'z' => 5],
                'b' => 'test'
            ],
            'test'
        ];


        function compareArrayValues($arrayOne, $arrayTwo, &$diff = [], $reversed = false)
        {
            foreach ($arrayOne as $key => $val) {
                if (!isset($arrayTwo[$key])) {
                    $diff[$key] = 'MISSING IN ' . ($reversed ? 'FIRST' : 'SECOND');
                } else if (is_array($val) && (json_encode($arrayOne[$key]) !== json_encode($arrayTwo[$key]))) {
                    compareArrayValues($arrayOne[$key], $arrayTwo[$key], $diff[$key], $reversed);
                } else if ($arrayOne[$key] !== $arrayTwo[$key]) {
                    $diff[$key] = 'DIFFERENT';
                }
            }
        }

        $diff = [];
        $diffSecond = [];

        compareArrayValues($array1, $array2, $diff);
        compareArrayValues($array2, $array1, $diffSecond, true);

        print_r($diff);
        print_r($diffSecond);

        print_r(array_merge($diff, $diffSecond));

Result:

Array
(
    [0] => DIFFERENT
    [second] => Array
        (
            [a] => Array
                (
                    [test] => DIFFERENT
                    [z] => MISSING IN FIRST
                )

        )

    [b] => MISSING IN SECOND
    [1] => DIFFERENT
    [2] => MISSING IN FIRST
)

Answer 14

Use php function array_diff(array1, array2);

It will return a the difference between arrays. If its empty then they're equal.

example:

$array1 = array(
    'a' => 'value1',

    'b' => 'value2',

    'c' => 'value3'
 );

$array2 = array(
    'a' => 'value1',

    'b' => 'value2',

    'c' => 'value4'
 );

$diff = array_diff(array1, array2);

var_dump($diff); 

//it will print array = (0 => ['c'] => 'value4' ) 

Example 2:

$array1 = array(
    'a' => 'value1',

    'b' => 'value2',

    'c' => 'value3',
 );

$array2 = array(
    'a' => 'value1',

    'b' => 'value2',

    'c' => 'value3',
 );

$diff = array_diff(array1, array2);

var_dump($diff); 

//it will print empty; 

Answer 15

If you want to check non associative arrays, here is the solution:

$a = ['blog', 'company'];
$b = ['company', 'blog'];

(count(array_unique(array_merge($a, $b))) === count($a)) ? 'Equals' : 'Not Equals';
// Equals

Answer 16

The following solution works with custom equality functions that you can pass as a callback. Note that it doesn't check arrays order.

trait AssertTrait
{
    /**
     * Determine if two arrays have the same elements, possibly in different orders. Elements comparison function must be passed as argument.
     *
     * @param array<mixed> $expected
     * @param array<mixed> $actual
     *
     * @throws InvalidArgumentException
     */
    public static function assertArraysContainSameElements(array $expected, array $actual, callable $comparisonFunction): void
    {
        Assert::assertEquals(\count($expected), \count($actual));

        self::assertEveryElementOfArrayIsInAnotherArrayTheSameAmountOfTimes($expected, $actual, $comparisonFunction);
        self::assertEveryElementOfArrayIsInAnotherArrayTheSameAmountOfTimes($actual, $expected, $comparisonFunction);
    }

    /**
     * @param array<mixed> $needles
     * @param array<mixed> $haystack
     *
     * @throws InvalidArgumentException
     */
    private static function assertEveryElementOfArrayIsInAnotherArrayTheSameAmountOfTimes(
        array $needles,
        array $haystack,
        callable $comparisonFunction
    ): void {
        Assert::assertLessThanOrEqual(\count($needles), \count($haystack));

        foreach ($needles as $expectedElement) {
            $matchesOfExpectedElementInExpected = \array_filter(
                $needles,
                static fn($element): bool => $comparisonFunction($expectedElement, $element),
            );

            $matchesOfExpectedElementInActual = \array_filter(
                $haystack,
                static fn($element): bool => $comparisonFunction($expectedElement, $element),
            );

            Assert::assertEquals(\count($matchesOfExpectedElementInExpected), \count($matchesOfExpectedElementInActual));
        }
    }
}

I usually use it in database integrations tests when I want to ensure that the expected elements are returned but I don't care about the sorting.