PHP Remove First Element from Array

The PHP array_slice() function can be used to remove the first element from an array in PHP. The array_slice() function works by returning a slice of the array starting at the offset specified in the second argument and including the number of elements specified in the third argument.

Syntax

array_slice($array, $offset, $length);

The parameters are:

• $array (required): The input array.
• $offset (required): The starting offset.
• $length (optional): The length of the slice. If not specified, all elements starting from the offset will be returned.

Example

<?php
$colors = array('red', 'green', 'blue', 'yellow');
$colors = array_slice($colors, 1);
print_r($colors);
?>

Output

Array
(
    [0] => green
    [1] => blue
    [2] => yellow
)

Explanation

In the example above, we created an array of colors and then used the array_slice() function to remove the first element from the array. We specified an offset of 1, which means that the slice will start at the second element of the array (since array indexes start at 0) and include all remaining elements.

Use

The array_slice() function is useful when you want to remove a specific number of elements from an array, or when you want to extract a subset of elements from an array.

Important Points

• The array_slice() function does not modify the input array. Instead, it returns a new array containing the specified slice of elements.
• If the length parameter is not specified, all elements from the offset to the end of the array will be returned.
• If the offset parameter is negative, counting starts from the end of the array. For example, an offset of -1 would start at the last element of the array.
• If the length parameter is negative, the slice will end that many elements from the end of the array.

Summary

The array_slice() function in PHP can be used to remove the first element from an array by returning a new array that includes all elements starting from a specified offset. This function is useful when you want to extract a subset of elements from an array or remove a specific number of elements from the beginning of an array.