Return PHP object by index number (not name)

Question

Goal: retrieve an element of data from within a PHP object by number.

This is the print_r($data) of the object:

stdClass Object
(
    [0] => stdClass Object
        (
            [TheKey] => 1456
            [ThingName] => Malibu
            [ThingID] => 7037
            [MemberOf] => California
            [ListID] => 7035
            [UserID] => 157
            [UserName] => John Doe
        )
)

I can't figure out how to pull a value out of it. This is only one record of a multi-record object that should be by id rather than a name.

These are some failed attempts to illustrate what the goal is:

echo $data -> 0 -> UserName;
echo $data[0] -> UserName;

Answer 1

Normally, PHP variable names can't start with a digit. You can't access $data as an array either as stdClass does not implement ArrayAccess — it's just a normal base class.

However, in cases like this you can try accessing the object attribute by its numeric name like so:

echo $data->{'0'}->UserName;

The only reason I can think of why Spudley's answer would cause an error is because you're running PHP 4, which doesn't support using foreach to iterate objects.

Answer 2

BoltClock's suggestion to use "$data->{'0'}->UserName" apparently no longer works with PHP 5.

I had the same problem and I found that current() will work to get that numbered class element like this...

echo current($data)->UserName;

Or if that doesn't work (depending on the object) you may need to do another current() call like this:

echo current(current($data))->UserName;

Answer 3

this works for PHP5+

echo $data[0]->UserName;

or

foreach ($data as $data){
    echo $data->UserName;
    }

or as suggested by @orrd

current($data)->UserName works great too.