How PHP foreach Actually Works

In PHP, the 'foreach' loop provides a convenient way to iterate over arrays and objects.

The Basics of foreach Loop

What is foreach?

The 'foreach' loop is used to loop through elements in an array or items in an object. It simplifies the process of iterating over each element without needing to manage array indexes or object properties manually.

Syntax of foreach

foreach ($arrayOrObject as $key => $value) {
    // Code to be executed for each iteration
}

Here, $arrayOrObject is the array or object you want to iterate over. $key and $value are variables that will be assigned the key and value of the current element in each iteration.

Using foreach with Arrays

Example

$fruits = array('apple', 'banana', 'orange');

foreach ($fruits as $index => $fruit) {
    echo "Index: $index, Fruit: $fruit \n";
}

Output:

Index: 0, Fruit: apple
Index: 1, Fruit: banana
Index: 2, Fruit: orange

In this example, the 'foreach' loop iterates over the $fruits array. In each iteration, the $index variable holds the index of the current element, and the $fruit variable holds the value of the current element.

Using foreach with Objects

Example

class Person {
    public $name;
    public $age;

    function __construct($name, $age) {
        $this->name = $name;
        $this->age = $age;
    }
}

$person1 = new Person('John', 30);
$person2 = new Person('Jane', 25);

$people = array($person1, $person2);

foreach ($people as $person) {
    echo "Name: $person->name, Age: $person->age \n";
}

Output:

Name: John, Age: 30
Name: Jane, Age: 25

In this example, the 'foreach' loop iterates over the $people array of objects. For each iteration, the $person variable holds the current object, and we can access its properties using the -> operator.