Checking to see if one array's elements are in another array in PHP

Question

You can use array_intersect().

$result = !empty(array_intersect($people, $criminals));

There's little wrong with using array_intersect() and count() (instead of empty).

For example:

$bFound = (count(array_intersect($criminals, $people))) ? true : false;

if 'empty' is not the best choice, what about this:

if (array_intersect($people, $criminals)) {...} //when found

or

if (!array_intersect($people, $criminals)) {...} //when not found

That code is invalid as you can only pass variables into language constructs. empty() is a language construct.

You have to do this in two lines:

$result = array_intersect($people, $criminals);
$result = !empty($result);

Performance test for in_array vs array_intersect:

$a1 = array(2,4,8,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20);

$a2 = array(3,20);

$intersect_times = array();
$in_array_times = array();
for($j = 0; $j < 10; $j++)
{
    /***** TEST ONE array_intersect *******/
    $t = microtime(true);
    for($i = 0; $i < 100000; $i++)
    {
        $x = array_intersect($a1,$a2);
        $x = empty($x);
    }
    $intersect_times[] = microtime(true) - $t;


    /***** TEST TWO in_array *******/
    $t2 = microtime(true);
    for($i = 0; $i < 100000; $i++)
    {
        $x = false;
        foreach($a2 as $v){
            if(in_array($v,$a1))
            {
                $x = true;
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    $in_array_times[] = microtime(true) - $t2;
}

echo '<hr><br>'.implode('<br>',$intersect_times).'<br>array_intersect avg: '.(array_sum($intersect_times) / count($intersect_times));
echo '<hr><br>'.implode('<br>',$in_array_times).'<br>in_array avg: '.(array_sum($in_array_times) / count($in_array_times));
exit;

Here are the results:

0.26520013809204
0.15600109100342
0.15599989891052
0.15599989891052
0.1560001373291
0.1560001373291
0.15599989891052
0.15599989891052
0.15599989891052
0.1560001373291
array_intersect avg: 0.16692011356354

0.015599966049194
0.031199932098389
0.031200170516968
0.031199932098389
0.031200885772705
0.031199932098389
0.031200170516968
0.031201124191284
0.031199932098389
0.031199932098389
in_array avg: 0.029640197753906

in_array is at least 5 times faster. Note that we "break" as soon as a result is found.