PHP - Grab the first element using a foreach

Question

Wondering what would be a good method to get the first iteration on a foreach loop. I want to do something different on the first iteration.

Is a conditional our best option on these cases?

Answer 1

You can simply add a counter to the start, like so:

$i = 0;

foreach($arr as $a){
 if($i == 0) {
 //do ze business
 }
 //the rest
 $i++;
}

Answer 2

first = true
foreach(...)
    if first
        do stuff
        first = false

Answer 3

Yes, if you are not able to go through the object in a different way (a normal for loop), just use a conditional in this case:

$first = true;
foreach ( $obj as $value )
{
    if ( $first )
    {
        // do something
        $first = false;
    }
    else
    {
        // do something
    }

    // do something
}

Answer 4

hm

<?php
$i = 0;
foreach($ar as $sth) {
    if($i++ == 0) {
        // do something
    }
    // do something else
}

more elegant.

Answer 5

Even morer eleganterer:

foreach($array as $index => $value) {
 if ($index == 0) {
      echo $array[$index];
 }
}