19. Nov 2021 |

Does PHP Loop Through the Whole Array to Find a Specific Element?

Same question here but I find its answer a bit misleading. My answer would be YES. You need to loop through the whole array to find a specific element and the worst case complexity is O(n). Unless:

  • you use associative array and ask the element by its key. Then the search takes constant time O(1).
  • you ask element by its index (you know where the element is and you go there directly). Then the search takes constant time O(1).

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