What is the fastest way to get the first item of an array? [duplicate]

I could not but try this out

$max = 2000; $array = range(1, 2000); echo "<pre>"; $start = microtime(true); for($i = 0; $i < $max; $i ++) { $item = current($array); } echo microtime(true) - $start ,PHP_EOL; $start = microtime(true); for($i = 0; $i < $max; $i ++) { $item = reset($array); } echo microtime(true) - $start ,PHP_EOL; $start = microtime(true); for($i = 0; $i < $max; $i ++) { $item = $array[0]; } echo microtime(true) - $start ,PHP_EOL; $start = microtime(true); for($i = 0; $i < $max; $i ++) { $item = &$array[0]; } echo microtime(true) - $start ,PHP_EOL; $start = microtime(true); for($i = 0; $i < $max; $i ++) { $item = array_shift($array); } echo microtime(true) - $start ,PHP_EOL; 

Output

0.03761100769043 0.037437915802002 0.00060200691223145 <--- 2nd Position 0.00056600570678711 <--- 1st Position 0.068138122558594 

So the fastest is

 $item = &$array[0]; 

Use reset:

<?php $array = Array(0 => "hello", "w" => "orld"); echo reset($array); // Output: "hello" ?> 

Note that the array's cursor is set to the beginning of the array when you use this.

Live demonstration

(Naturally, you can store the result into a string instead of echoing, but I use echo for demonstration purposes.)

Something like this?:

$firstitem = $array[0]; 

reset does this:

$item = reset($array); 

This will work irrespective of what the keys are, but it will move the array pointer (I 've never had a reason to worry about this, but it should be mentioned).

The most efficient is getting the reference, so not string copy is involved:

$first = &$array[0]; 

Just make sure you don't modify $first, as it will be modified in the array too. If you have to modify it then look for the other answers alternatives.