International PHP Conference Berlin 2025

array_is_list

(PHP 8 >= 8.1.0)

array_is_listChecks whether a given array is a list

Description

array_is_list(array $array): bool

Determines if the given array is a list. An array is considered a list if its keys consist of consecutive numbers from 0 to count($array)-1.

Parameters

array

The array being evaluated.

Return Values

Returns true if array is a list, false otherwise.

Examples

Example #1 array_is_list() example

<?php

array_is_list
([]); // true
array_is_list(['apple', 2, 3]); // true
array_is_list([0 => 'apple', 'orange']); // true

// The array does not start at 0
array_is_list([1 => 'apple', 'orange']); // false

// The keys are not in the correct order
array_is_list([1 => 'apple', 0 => 'orange']); // false

// Non-integer keys
array_is_list([0 => 'apple', 'foo' => 'bar']); // false

// Non-consecutive keys
array_is_list([0 => 'apple', 2 => 'bar']); // false
?>

Notes

Note:

This function returns true on empty arrays.

See Also

add a note

User Contributed Notes 6 notes

up
50
phpnet at jesseschalken dot com
2 years ago
Polyfills that call `array_keys()`, `array_values()` or `range()` are inefficient because they create new arrays unnecessarily.

Please use this polyfill instead which creates no new arrays and only does a single pass over the given array.

<?php

if (!function_exists("array_is_list")) {
function
array_is_list(array $array): bool
{
$i = 0;
foreach (
$array as $k => $v) {
if (
$k !== $i++) {
return
false;
}
}
return
true;
}
}

?>
up
23
divinity76+spam at gmail dot com
2 years ago
slightly optimized version of phpnet at jesseschalken dot com's excellent array_is_list:

<?php

if (!function_exists("array_is_list")) {
function
array_is_list(array $array): bool
{
$i = -1;
foreach (
$array as $k => $v) {
++
$i;
if (
$k !== $i) {
return
false;
}
}
return
true;
}
}

?>

benchmarks: https://3v4l.org/9BPqL

why is this faster you ask? because post-increment does more,

here is what pre-increment actually means:
step 1: increment the value by 1.
step 2: return the value.

here is what post-increment actually means:
step 1: create a copy of the original value.
step 2: increment the original value by 1.
step 3: return the copy.

another question might be "why didn't you write `if ($k !== ++$i) {` ? ... that is a good question! turns out that ++$i;if($k!==$i){...} is faster on PHP7 than if($k !== ++$i){...} for reasons unknown to me.. (if you have an answer, feel free to email me about it!)

(i have NOT checked if PHP8/jit auto-optimize this stuff, but at least back in PHP7 it's true that pre-increment is faster than post-increment, and this polyfill is primarily for PHP7)
up
14
Matteo Galletti
3 years ago
Polyfill implementation for PHP versions lower than 8.1.

<?php
if (!function_exists('array_is_list'))
{
function
array_is_list(array $a)
{
return
$a === [] || (array_keys($a) === range(0, count($a) - 1));
}
}
?>
up
-1
2317216477 at qq dot com
1 month ago
function isIndexed($array)
{
if (is_array($array)) {
$keys = array_keys($array);
return $keys === array_keys($keys);
}
return false;
}

function isAssoc($array)
{
if (is_array($array)) {
$keys = array_keys($array);
return $keys !== array_keys($keys);
}
return false;
}

these two function is more faster than divinity76+spam at gmail dot com's about three times in my computer for PHP 8.2.9:

array(3) {
["pre"]=>
float(0.8179779052734375)
["post"]=>
float(0.8116860389709473)
["index"]=>
float(0.3369460105895996)
}

:)
up
1
info at ensostudio dot ru
3 years ago
old school polyfill (:
<?php
if (!function_exists('array_is_list')) {
function
array_is_list(array $array)
{
if (
$array === []) {
return
true;
}
$keys = array_keys($array);
return
$keys === array_keys($keys);
}
}
?>
up
0
maruerru
1 year ago
I think, this is the fastest polyfill:

<?php

if (!function_exists('array_is_list')) {
function
array_is_list(array $array)
{
return
$array === array_values($array);
}
}

?>
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