[SOLVED] Reference PHP array by multiple indexes

Reference PHP array by multiple indexes

This may be some sort of weird longer shortcut, and please correct me if I'm mistaken in this train of thought...

I have a matrix of data that looks like:

unique_id | URL | other random data...
unique_id | URL | other random data...
unique_id | URL | other random data...

I want to be able to reference an item by either its URL, or its unique_id. Is there a fancy way to do this?

I suppose the cheating solution would be to just make two arrays, but is there is a better way?

Solution

Try something like this:

function selectByIdOrURL($array, $data) {
    foreach($array as $row) {
       if($row['unique_id'] == $data || $row['url'] == $data) return $row;
    }
    return NULL;
}

$array = array(
           array('unique_id' => 5, 'url' => 'http://blah.com'),
           array('unique_id' => 3, 'url' => 'http://somewhere_else.com')
         );
$found = selectByIdOrURL($array, 5); //array('unique_id' => 5, 'url' => 'http://blah.com')
$nfound = selectByIdOrURL($array, 10); //NULL