PHP array check if value in specific key exists -

i using php 5.5.12.

i have following multidimensional array:

[     {         "id": 1,         "type":"elephant",          "title":"title of elephant"     },      {         "id": 2,         "type":"tiger",          "title":"title of tiger"     },     {         "id": 3,         "type":"lion",          "title":"title of lion",         "children":[{             "id": 4,             "type":"cow",              "title":"title of cow"         },         {             "type":"elephant",              "title":"title of elephant"         },         {             "type":"buffalo",              "title":"title of buffalo"         }]     } ] 

i iterating array using foreach loop.

the array key type must in elephant, tiger , lion. if not, result should return false.

how can achieve this?

since you're using php5.5.12, can make use of array_column.

$arr = json_decode($json, true); //walk through each element, paying attention type array_walk( array_column($arr, 'type'), function($element, $k) use(&$arr) {     $arr[$k]['valid_type'] = in_array($element, array('lion', 'tiger', 'elephant')); }); 

from here, each element in array ($arr) have new key valid_type boolean value - 1 if type valid, 0 if isn't.

https://eval.in/350322