array_chunk

    (PHP 4 >= 4.2.0, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    array_chunk — Split an array into chunks

    Description

    array_chunk(array $array, int $length, bool $preserve_keys = false): array

    Chunks an array into arrays with length elements. The last chunk may contain less than length elements.

    Parameters

    array

    The array to work on

    length

    The size of each chunk

    preserve_keys

    When set to true keys will be preserved. Default is false which will reindex the chunk numerically

    Return Values

    Returns a multidimensional numerically indexed array, starting with zero, with each dimension containing length elements.

    Errors/Exceptions

    If length is less than 1, a ValueError will be thrown.

    Changelog

    Version Description
    8.0.0 If length is less than 1, a ValueError will be thrown now; previously, an error of level E_WARNING has been raised instead, and the function returned null.

    Examples

    Example #1 array_chunk() example

    <?php
    $input_array     = array('a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e');
    print_r(array_chunk($input_array, 2));
    print_r(array_chunk($input_array, 2, true));
    ?>

    The above example will output:

    Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => a
            [1] => b
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => c
            [1] => d
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [0] => e
        )

)
Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => a
            [1] => b
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [2] => c
            [3] => d
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [4] => e
        )

)

    See Also

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    ＋add a note

    User Contributed Notes 20 notes

    up
    67
    azspot at gmail dot com
    17 years ago
    Tried to use an example below (#56022) for array_chunk_fixed that would "partition" or divide an array into a desired number of split lists -- a useful procedure for "chunking" up objects or text items into columns, or partitioning any type of data resource. However, there seems to be a flaw with array_chunk_fixed — for instance, try it with a nine item list and with four partitions. It results in 3 entries with 3 items, then a blank array.

    So, here is the output of my own dabbling on the matter:

    <?php

    function partition( $list, $p ) {
    $listlen = count( $list );
    $partlen = floor( $listlen / $p );
    $partrem = $listlen % $p;
    $partition = array();
    $mark = 0;
    for (    $px = 0; $px < $p; $px++) {
    $incr = ($px < $partrem) ? $partlen + 1 : $partlen;
    $partition[$px] = array_slice( $list, $mark, $incr );
    $mark += $incr;
    }
    return     $partition;
    }

    $citylist = array( "Black Canyon City", "Chandler", "Flagstaff", "Gilbert", "Glendale", "Globe", "Mesa", "Miami",
    "Phoenix", "Peoria", "Prescott", "Scottsdale", "Sun City", "Surprise", "Tempe", "Tucson", "Wickenburg" );
    print_r( partition( $citylist, 3 ) );

    ?>

    Array
    (
    [0] => Array
    (
    [0] => Black Canyon City
    [1] => Chandler
    [2] => Flagstaff
    [3] => Gilbert
    [4] => Glendale
    [5] => Globe
    )

    [1] => Array
    (
    [0] => Mesa
    [1] => Miami
    [2] => Phoenix
    [3] => Peoria
    [4] => Prescott
    [5] => Scottsdale
    )

    [2] => Array
    (
    [0] => Sun City
    [1] => Surprise
    [2] => Tempe
    [3] => Tucson
    [4] => Wickenburg
    )

    )
    up
    22
    Andrew Martin
    6 years ago
    To reverse an array_chunk, use array_merge, passing the chunks as a variadic:

    <?php
    $array     = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9];

    $chunks = array_chunk($array, 3);
    // $chunks = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]]

    $de_chunked = array_merge(…$chunks);
    // $de_chunked = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
    ?>
    up
    11
    suisuiruyi at aliyun dot com
    8 years ago
    chunk array vertically

    $arr = range(1, 19);
    function array_chunk_vertical($arr, $percolnum){
    $n = count($arr);
    $mod = $n % $percolnum;
    $cols = floor($n / $percolnum);
    $mod ? $cols++ : null ;
    $re = array();
    for($col = 0; $col < $cols; $col++){
    for($row = 0; $row < $percolnum; $row++){
    if($arr){
    $re[$row][] = array_shift($arr);
    }
    }
    }
    return $re;
    }
    $result = array_chunk_vertical($arr, 6);
    foreach($result as $row){
    foreach($row as $val){
    echo '['.$val.']';
    }
    echo '<br/>';
    }
    /*
    [1][7][13][19]
    [2][8][14]
    [3][9][15]
    [4][10][16]
    [5][11][17]
    [6][12][18]
    */
    up
    6
    dustin at fivetechnology dot com
    8 years ago
    Had need to chunk an object which implemented ArrayAccess Iterator Countable. array_chunk wouldn't do it. Should work for any list of things

    <?php
    $listOfThings     = array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13);
    print_r(chunk_iterable($listOfThings, 4);

    function     chunk_iterable($listOfThings, $size) {
    $chunk = 0;
    $chunks = array_fill(0, ceil(count($listOfThings) / $size) - 1, array());
    $index = 0;
    foreach(    $listOfThings as $thing) {
    if (    $index && $index % $size == 0) $chunk++;
    $chunks[$chunk][] = $thing;
    $index++;
    }
    return     $chunks;
    }
    ?>
    up
    19
    nate at ruggfamily dot com
    13 years ago
    If you just want to grab one chunk from an array, you should use array_slice().
    up
    21
    Anonymous
    18 years ago
    Here my array_chunk_values( ) with values distributed by lines (columns are balanced as much as possible) :

    <?php
    function array_chunk_vertical($data, $columns) {
    $n = count($data) ;
    $per_column = floor($n / $columns) ;
    $rest = $n % $columns ;

    // The map
    $per_columns = array( ) ;
    for (     $i = 0 ; $i < $columns ; $i++ ) {
    $per_columns[$i] = $per_column + ($i < $rest ? 1 : 0) ;
    }

    $tabular = array( ) ;
    foreach (     $per_columns as $rows ) {
    for (     $i = 0 ; $i < $rows ; $i++ ) {
    $tabular[$i][ ] = array_shift($data) ;
    }
    }

    return     $tabular ;
    }

    header('Content-Type: text/plain') ;

    $data = array_chunk_vertical(range(1, 31), 7) ;
    foreach (     $data as $row ) {
    foreach (     $row as $value ) {
    printf('[%2s]', $value) ;
    }
    echo     "\r\n" ;
    }

    /*
    Output :

    [ 1][ 6][11][16][20][24][28]
    [ 2][ 7][12][17][21][25][29]
    [ 3][ 8][13][18][22][26][30]
    [ 4][ 9][14][19][23][27][31]
    [ 5][10][15]
    */
    ?>
    up
    8
    Anonymous
    3 years ago
    Most easy way split array to parts

    <?php

    $arr     = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];

    print_r(array_chunk($arr, ceil(count($arr) / 2)));
    // return: [[1, 2, 3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]]

    print_r(array_chunk($arr, ceil(count($arr) / 3)));
    // return: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [9, 10]]

    ?>
    up
    18
    OIS
    16 years ago
    Response to azspot at gmail dot com function partition.

    $columns = 3;
    $citylist = array('Black Canyon City', 'Chandler', 'Flagstaff', 'Gilbert', 'Glendale', 'Globe', 'Mesa', 'Miami', 'Phoenix', 'Peoria', 'Prescott', 'Scottsdale', 'Sun City', 'Surprise', 'Tempe', 'Tucson', 'Wickenburg');
    print_r(array_chunk($citylist, ceil(count($citylist) / $columns)));

    Output:
    Array
    (
    [0] => Array
    (
    [0] => Black Canyon City
    [1] => Chandler
    [2] => Flagstaff
    [3] => Gilbert
    [4] => Glendale
    [5] => Globe
    )

    [1] => Array
    (
    [0] => Mesa
    [1] => Miami
    [2] => Phoenix
    [3] => Peoria
    [4] => Prescott
    [5] => Scottsdale
    )

    [2] => Array
    (
    [0] => Sun City
    [1] => Surprise
    [2] => Tempe
    [3] => Tucson
    [4] => Wickenburg
    )

    )
    up
    5
    siddharthundare at gmail dot com
    8 years ago
    <table>
    <tr>
    <?php

    $array_chunkdata     = array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25);
    $chunk = array_chunk($array_chunkdata,5);
    $rev_counter = 2;

    function     for_chunk($chunk_data){

    echo     "<td><table>";

    foreach(    $chunk_data as $key => $chunk_value)
    {
    echo     "<tr><td>";
    echo     $chunk_value;
    echo     "</td></tr>";
    }
    echo     "</table></td>";

    }

    foreach(    $chunk as $key => $chunk_data)
    {
    if(    $rev_counter%2==0)
    {
    for_chunk($chunk_data);
    }
    else
    {
    $chunk_data = array_reverse($chunk_data);

    for_chunk($chunk_data);

    }
    $rev_counter++;
    }
    ?>
    </tr>
    </table>
    /*
    Output:
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5

    10
    9
    8
    7
    6

    11
    12
    13
    14
    15

    20
    19
    18
    17
    16

    21
    22
    23
    24
    25
    */
    up
    13
    phpm at nreynolds dot me dot uk
    19 years ago
    array_chunk() is helpful when constructing tables with a known number of columns but an unknown number of values, such as a calendar month. Example:

    <?php

    $values     = range(1, 31);
    $rows = array_chunk($values, 7);

    print     "<table>\n";
    foreach (    $rows as $row) {
    print     "<tr>\n";
    foreach (    $row as $value) {
    print     "<td>" . $value . "</td>\n";
    }
    print     "</tr>\n";
    }
    print     "</table>\n";

    ?>

    Outputs:

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7
    8 9 10 11 12 13 14
    15 16 17 18 19 20 21
    22 23 24 25 26 27 28
    29 30 31

    The other direction is possible too, with the aid of a function included at the bottom of this note. Changing this line:
    $rows = array_chunk($values, 7);

    To this:
    $rows = array_chunk_vertical($values, 7);

    Produces a vertical calendar with seven columns:

    1 6 11 16 21 26 31
    2 7 12 17 22 27
    3 8 13 18 23 28
    4 9 14 19 24 29
    5 10 15 20 25 30

    You can also specify that $size refers to the number of rows, not columns:
    $rows = array_chunk_vertical($values, 7, false, false);

    Producing this:

    1 8 15 22 29
    2 9 16 23 30
    3 10 17 24 31
    4 11 18 25
    5 12 19 26
    6 13 20 27
    7 14 21 28

    The function:

    <?php

    function array_chunk_vertical($input, $size, $preserve_keys = false, $size_is_horizontal = true)
    {
    $chunks = array();

    if (    $size_is_horizontal) {
    $chunk_count = ceil(count($input) / $size);
    } else {
    $chunk_count = $size;
    }

    for (    $chunk_index = 0; $chunk_index < $chunk_count; $chunk_index++) {
    $chunks[] = array();
    }

    $chunk_index = 0;
    foreach (    $input as $key => $value)
    {
    if (    $preserve_keys) {
    $chunks[$chunk_index][$key] = $value;
    } else {
    $chunks[$chunk_index][] = $value;
    }

    if (++    $chunk_index == $chunk_count) {
    $chunk_index = 0;
    }
    }

    return     $chunks;
    }

    ?>
    up
    6
    stratboy
    10 years ago
    Hi, I've made a function to split an array into chunks based on columns wanted. For example:

    <?php $a = array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8); ?>

    goal (say, for 3 columns):

    <?php
    array(
    array(    1,2,3),
    array(    4,5,6),
    array(    7,8)
    );
    ?>

    <?php
    function get_array_columns($array, $columns){

    $columns_map = array();
    for(    $i=0; $i<$columns; $i++){ $columns_map[] = 0; }//init columns

    //create map
    $count = count($array);
    $position = 0;
    while(    $count > 0){
    $columns_map[$position]++;
    $position = ($position < $columns-1) ? ++$position : 0;
    $count--;
    }

    //chunk the array based on map
    $chunked = array();
    foreach(    $columns_map as $map){
    $chunked[] = array_splice($array,0,$map);
    }

    return     $chunked;
    }    //end get_array_columns
    ?>
    up
    6
    mick at vandermostvanspijk dot nl
    20 years ago
    [Editors note: This function was based on a previous function by gphemsley at nospam users dot sourceforge.net]

    For those of you that need array_chunk() for PHP < 4.2.0, this function should do the trick:

    <?php
    if (!function_exists('array_chunk')) {
    function     array_chunk( $input, $size, $preserve_keys = false) {
    @    reset( $input );

    $i = $j = 0;

    while( @list(     $key, $value ) = @each( $input ) ) {
    if( !( isset(     $chunks[$i] ) ) ) {
    $chunks[$i] = array();
    }

    if(     count( $chunks[$i] ) < $size ) {
    if(     $preserve_keys ) {
    $chunks[$i][$key] = $value;
    $j++;
    } else {
    $chunks[$i][] = $value;
    }
    } else {
    $i++;

    if(     $preserve_keys ) {
    $chunks[$i][$key] = $value;
    $j++;
    } else {
    $j = 0;
    $chunks[$i][$j] = $value;
    }
    }
    }

    return     $chunks;
    }
    }
    ?>
    up
    8
    dead dot screamer at seznam dot cz
    15 years ago
    This function can be used to reverse effect of <?php array_Chunk()?>.
    <?php
    function array_Unchunk($array)
    {
    return     call_User_Func_Array('array_Merge',$array);
    }

    header('Content-Type: text/plain');
    $array=array(
    array(
    'Black Canyon City',
    'Chandler',
    'Flagstaff',
    'Gilbert',
    'Glendale',
    'Globe',
    ),
    array(
    'Mesa',
    'Miami',
    'Phoenix',
    'Peoria',
    'Prescott',
    'Scottsdale',
    ),
    array(
    'Sun City',
    'Surprise',
    'Tempe',
    'Tucson',
    'Wickenburg',
    ),
    );
    var_Dump(array_Unchunk($array));
    ?>

    Output:
    array(17) {
    [0]=>
    string(17) "Black Canyon City"
    [1]=>
    string(8) "Chandler"
    [2]=>
    string(9) "Flagstaff"
    [3]=>
    string(7) "Gilbert"
    [4]=>
    string(8) "Glendale"
    [5]=>
    string(5) "Globe"
    [6]=>
    string(4) "Mesa"
    [7]=>
    string(5) "Miami"
    [8]=>
    string(7) "Phoenix"
    [9]=>
    string(6) "Peoria"
    [10]=>
    string(8) "Prescott"
    [11]=>
    string(10) "Scottsdale"
    [12]=>
    string(8) "Sun City"
    [13]=>
    string(8) "Surprise"
    [14]=>
    string(5) "Tempe"
    [15]=>
    string(6) "Tucson"
    [16]=>
    string(10) "Wickenburg"
    }
    up
    1
    leon at valkenb dot org
    3 years ago
    With no luck finding a function; here is the one I wrote:
    It will evenly distribute items into a fixed amount of groups but also keeps items that were sorted close together to be in the same output groups.
    <?php
    function distributed_array_chunk(array $items, int $groups, bool $preserveKeys = false) {

    $grouped = [];
    $groupsPerItem = $groups / count($items);
    $progress = 0.00;

    foreach (    $items as $key => $value) {

    $index = floor($progress += $groupsPerItem);

    if (    $preserveKeys) {
    $grouped[$index][$key] = $value;
    }
    else{
    $grouped[$index][] = $value;
    }
    }

    return     $grouped;
    }
    ?>
    up
    6
    magick dit crow ot gmail dit com
    18 years ago
    This function takes each few elements of an array and averages them together. It then places the averages in a new array. It is used to smooth out data. For example lets say you have a years worth of hit data to a site and you want to graph it by the week. Then use a bucket of 7 and graph the functions output.

    function array_bucket($array, $bucket_size) // bucket filter
    {
    if (!is_array($array)) return false; // no empty arrays
    $buckets=array_chunk($array,$bucket_size); // chop up array into bucket size units
    foreach ($buckets as $bucket) $new_array[key($buckets])=array_sum($bucket)/count($bucket);
    return $new_array; // return new smooth array
    }
    up
    2
    normiridium at gmail dot com
    8 years ago
    A breakdown by groups with excess:

    function array_chunk_greedy($arr, $count){
    $arr = array_chunk($arr, $count);
    if(($k = count($arr)-1) > 0){
    if(count($arr[$k]) < $count){
    $arr[$k-1] = array_merge($arr[$k-1], $arr[$k]);
    unset($arr[$k]);
    }
    }
    return $arr;
    }

    $arr = range(1, 13);
    $arr = array_chunk_greedy($arr, 4);

    print_r($arr);

    [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13] —> [1,2,3,4] [5,6,7,8] [9,10,11,12,13]

    More examples:

    [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12] —> [1,2,3,4] [5,6,7,8] [9,10,11,12]
    [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13] —> [1,2,3,4] [5,6,7,8] [9,10,11,12,13]
    [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14] —> [1,2,3,4] [5,6,7,8] [9,10,11,12,13,14]
    [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15] —> [1,2,3,4] [5,6,7,8] [9,10,11,12,13,14,15]
    [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16] —> [1,2,3,4] [5,6,7,8] [9,10,11,12] [13,14,15,16]

    Example report:

    $arr = range(1, 45);
    $arr = array_chunk_lazy($arr, 10);

    $arr = array_map(function($sub_value) {
    return implode('<br>', $sub_value);
    }, $arr);

    $title = '<h2>title</h2>';
    $arr = $title.implode($title, $arr).$title;

    echo $arr;
    up
    1
    webmaster at cafe-clope dot net
    18 years ago
    based on the same syntax, useful about making columns :

    <?php
    function array_chunk_fixed($input, $num, $preserve_keys = FALSE) {
    $count = count($input) ;
    if(    $count)
    $input = array_chunk($input, ceil($count/$num), $preserve_keys) ;
    $input = array_pad($input, $num, array()) ;
    return     $input ;
    }

    $array = array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ;
    print_r(array_chunk($array, 2)) ;
    print_r(array_chunk_fixed($array, 2)) ;
    ?>

    ---- array_chunk : fixed number of sub-items ----
    Array(
    [0] => Array(
    [0] => 1
    [1] => 2
    )
    [1] => Array(
    [0] => 3
    [1] => 4
    )

    [2] => Array(
    [0] => 5
    )
    )

    ---- array_chunk : fixed number of columns ----
    Array(
    [0] => Array(
    [0] => 1
    [1] => 2
    [2] => 3
    )
    [1] => Array(
    [0] => 4
    [1] => 5
    )
    )
    up
    -2
    magick dit crow ot gmail dit com
    18 years ago
    Mistake key did not do what I thought. A patch.

    function array_bucket($array,$bucket_size)// bucket filter
    {
    if (!is_array($array)) return false;
    $buckets=array_chunk($array,$bucket_size);// chop up array into bucket size units
    $I=0;
    foreach ($buckets as $bucket)
    {
    $new_array[$I++]=array_sum($bucket)/count($bucket);
    }
    return $new_array;// return new array
    }
    up
    -5
    Anonymous
    10 years ago
    Couldn't get the array_chunk_values() working, so ended up with this implementation:

    <?php
    function array_chunk_columns($data, $num_columns) {
    $n = count($data);
    $per_column = floor($n / $num_columns);
    $rest = $n % $num_columns;

    $columns = array();
    $index = 0;
    for (    $i = 0; $i < $num_columns; $i++) {
    // Add an extra item to each column while the column number is less than the
    // remainder.
    $add_rest = ($rest && ($i < $rest)) ? 1 : 0;
    $number = $per_column + $add_rest;
    $columns[] = array_slice($data, $index, $number);
    $index += $number;
    }

    return     $columns;
    }

    ?>
    up
    -14
    Rasmus Schultz (http://mindplay.dk)
    15 years ago
    Unfortunately, this function only accepts real arrays, not iterable objects... For that, you need this function:

    <?php

    function break_array($array, $page_size) {

    $arrays = array();
    $i = 0;

    foreach (    $array as $index => $item) {
    if (    $i++ % $page_size == 0) {
    $arrays[] = array();
    $current = & $arrays[count($arrays)-1];
    }
    $current[] = $item;
    }

    return     $arrays;

    }

    ?>
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