haphpiness

array_first() and array_last()

PHP 8.5 added the two most obviously-missing array functions. Get the first or last value of an array without reset() side effects, without array_key_first() + indexing, and without any of the other workarounds developers have been using for 25 years.

$events = ['signup', 'login', 'purchase', 'logout'];

$first = array_first($events);  // 'signup'
$last = array_last($events);    // 'logout'

// Returns null for empty arrays — compose with ??
$latest = array_last($logs) ?? 'No logs yet';

// Works with associative arrays too
$config = ['debug' => true, 'env' => 'prod', 'version' => '3.0'];
array_first($config);  // true (first value)
array_last($config);   // '3.0' (last value)

// Compare with the old ways:
$first = reset($array);                                    // Mutates internal pointer!
$first = $array[array_key_first($array)];                  // Verbose
$first = current(array_slice($array, 0, 1));               // Allocates a new array
$last = $array[array_key_last($array) ?? 0] ?? null;       // Awkward null handling

The old approaches either mutated the array's internal pointer (reset()/end()), required two function calls, or created unnecessary intermediate arrays. array_first() and array_last() do exactly one thing, correctly, with no side effects.