How to remove the first element of array without changing its key value? [duplicate]

Question

There's an array in php

<?php $array=array("a"=>"123","b"=>"234","c"=>"345"); array_shift($array); //array("0"=>"234","1"=>"345"); ?> 

If I use this function, then key value gets changed. I want my key value to remain the same. How can I remove first element without affecting array key values. My answer should be like

array("b"=>"234","c"=>"345"); 

Note:Please do not use foreach(); I want to do this by existing array functions in php

array_splice function is working for above array. But consider the below array

<?php $array = Array (     '39' => Array         (             'id' => '39',             'field_id' => '620'                     ),      '40' => Array         (             'id' => '40',             'field_id' => '620',             'default_value' => 'rrr',            ));  array_splice($array, 0, 1); print_r($array); ?> 

It is showing answer as follows:

Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 40 [field_id] => 620 [default_value] => rrr ) ) 

May I know the reason?? Will array_splice() work only for single dimensional array?? Now key value is reset...

Answer 1

In case you do not know what the first item's key is:

// Make sure to reset the array's current index reset($array);  $key = key($array); unset($array[$key]);