Array_values from multidimensional array

Question

The array looks like

$arr = array(

  array('a', 'b'),
  array('c', 'd'),
  array('e', 'f'),

)

And I want to get an array with values from the first column, like array('a', 'c', 'e')

I know it can easily be done by iterating the array and store the values in another array, but is there a shorter way, a built-in PHP function or something?

Answer 1

As of PHP 5.5 you can use array_column():

$records = array(
    array(
        'id' => 2135,
        'first_name' => 'John',
        'last_name' => 'Doe'
    ),
    array(
        'id' => 3245,
        'first_name' => 'Sally',
        'last_name' => 'Smith'
    ),
    array(
        'id' => 5342,
        'first_name' => 'Jane',
        'last_name' => 'Jones'
    ),
    array(
        'id' => 5623,
        'first_name' => 'Peter',
        'last_name' => 'Doe'
    )
);

$lastNames = array_column($records, 'last_name', 'id');

print_r($lastNames);

Array
(
    [2135] => Doe
    [3245] => Smith
    [5342] => Jones
    [5623] => Doe
)