array_unique

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.1, PHP 5, PHP 7)

array_unique — 移除数组中重复的值

说明

array array_unique ( array $array [, int $sort_flags = SORT_STRING ] )

array_unique() 接受 array 作为输入并返回没有重复值的新数组。

注意键名保留不变。array_unique() 先将值作为字符串排序，然后对每个值只保留第一个遇到的键名，接着忽略所有后面的键名。这并不意味着在未排序的 array 中同一个值的第一个出现的键名会被保留。

Note: 当且仅当 (string) $elem1 === (string) $elem2 时两个单元被认为相同。 例如，字符串表达一样时，会使用首个元素。

参数

array

输入的数组。

sort_flags

第二个可选参数sort_flags 可用于修改排序行为：

排序类型标记：

  • SORT_REGULAR - 按照通常方法比较（不修改类型）
  • SORT_NUMERIC - 按照数字形式比较
  • SORT_STRING - 按照字符串形式比较
  • SORT_LOCALE_STRING - 根据当前的本地化设置，按照字符串比较。

返回值

返回过滤后的数组。

更新日志

版本 说明
5.2.10 修改回 sort_flags 的默认值为 SORT_STRING。
5.2.9 增加可选选项sort_flags，默认值 SORT_REGULAR。 5.2.9 之前，此函数内部使用 SORT_STRING 排序。

范例

Example #1 array_unique() 例子

<?php
$input = array("a" => "green", "red", "b" => "green", "blue", "red");
$result = array_unique($input);
print_r($result);
?>

以上例程会输出：

Array
(
    [a] => green
    [0] => red
    [1] => blue
)

Example #2 array_unique() 和类型

<?php
$input = array(4, "4", "3", 4, 3, "3");
$result = array_unique($input);
var_dump($result);
?>

以上例程会输出：

array(2) {
  [0] => int(4)
  [2] => string(1) "3"
}

参见

注释

Note: 注意， array_unique() 不能应用于多维数组。

User Contributed Notes

calexandrepcjr at gmail dot com 21-Jun-2017 12:19
Following the Ghanshyam Katriya idea, but with an array of objects, where the $key is related to object propriety that you want to filter the uniqueness of array:

<?php
function obj_multi_unique($obj, $key = false)
    {
        $totalObjs = count($obj);
        if (is_array($obj) && $totalObjs > 0 && is_object($obj[0]) && ($key && !is_numeric($key))) {
            for ($i = 0; $i < $totalObjs; $i++) {
                if (isset($obj[$i])) {
                    for ($j = $i + 1; $j < $totalObjs; $j++) {
                        if (isset($obj[$j]) && $obj[$i]->{$key} === $obj[$j]->{$key}) {
                            unset($obj[$j]);
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            return array_values($obj);
        } else {
            throw new Exception('Invalid argument or your array of objects is empty');
        }
    }
?>
stoff@ 20-Jan-2017 12:23
In reply to performance tests array_unique vs foreach.

In PHP7 there were significant changes to Packed and Immutable arrays resulting in the performance difference to drop considerably. Here is the same test on php7.1 here;
http://sandbox.onlinephpfunctions.com/code/2a9e986690ef8505490489581c1c0e70f20d26d1

$max = 770000; //large enough number within memory allocation
$arr = range(1,$max,3);
$arr2 = range(1,$max,2);
$arr = array_merge($arr,$arr2);

$time = -microtime(true);
$res1 = array_unique($arr);
$time += microtime(true);
echo "deduped to ".count($res1)." in ".$time;
// deduped to 513333 in 1.0876770019531

$time = -microtime(true);
$res2 = array();
foreach($arr as $key=>$val) {   
    $res2[$val] = true;
}
$res2 = array_keys($res2);
$time += microtime(true);
echo "<br />deduped to ".count($res2)." in ".$time;
// deduped to 513333 in 0.054931879043579
zoolyka at gmail dot com 19-Jan-2016 07:48
I found the simplest way to "unique" multidimensional arrays as follows:

<?php

$array = array(
    'a' => array(1, 2),
    'b' => array(1, 2),
    'c' => array(2, 2),
    'd' => array(2, 1),
    'e' => array(1, 1),
);

$array = array_map('json_encode', $array);
$array = array_unique($array);
$array = array_map('json_decode', $array);

print_r($array);

?>

As you can see "b" will be removed without any errors or notices.
tim at heuer dot nz 12-Oct-2015 07:57
I created a function for doing array_unique with a custom in_array function. So, if elements are considered in the array passed to this function, the array returned won't include elements that are considered equal and only return the values from the first array that are not considered in the array:

<?php

function uniqueBy(array $array, callable $in_array_func) {
    $result = array();
    foreach ($array as $key => $item) {
        if (!$in_array_func($item, $result)) {
            $result[$key] = $item;
        }
    }
    return $result;
}

?>

Example usage:

<?php

$in_array_func = function($item, $array) {
    $fromBower = function($item) {
        $result = substr($item, strpos($item, 'bower_components'));
        return $result;
    };
    foreach ($array as $myItem) {
        if ($fromBower($item) == $fromBower($myItem)) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
};

// ...
$jss = uniqueBy($jss, $in_array_func);
?>
Ludovico Grossi 19-Dec-2014 11:01
[Editor's note: please note that this will not work well with non-scalar values in the array. Array keys can not be arrays themselves, nor streams, resources, etc. Flipping the array causes a change in key-name]

You can do a super fast version of array_unique directly in PHP, even faster than the other solution posted in the comments!

Compared to the built in function it is 20x faster! (2x faster than the solution in the comments).

<?php
function superfast_array_unique($array) {
    return array_keys(array_flip($array));
}
?>

This works faster for small and big arrays.
Ghanshyam Katriya(anshkatriya at gmail) 09-Dec-2014 07:15
Create multidimensional array unique for any single key index.
e.g I want to create multi dimentional unique array for specific code

Code :
My array is like this,

<?php
$details = array(
    0 => array("id"=>"1", "name"=>"Mike",    "num"=>"9876543210"),
    1 => array("id"=>"2", "name"=>"Carissa", "num"=>"08548596258"),
    2 => array("id"=>"1", "name"=>"Mathew",  "num"=>"784581254"),
);
?>

You can make it unique for any field like id, name or num.

I have develop this function for same :
<?php
function unique_multidim_array($array, $key) {
    $temp_array = array();
    $i = 0;
    $key_array = array();
   
    foreach($array as $val) {
        if (!in_array($val[$key], $key_array)) {
            $key_array[$i] = $val[$key];
            $temp_array[$i] = $val;
        }
        $i++;
    }
    return $temp_array;
}
?>

Now, call this function anywhere from your code,

something like this,
<?php
$details = unique_multidim_array($details,'id');
?>

Output will be like this :
<?php
$details = array(
    0 => array("id"=>"1","name"=>"Mike","num"=>"9876543210"),
    1 => array("id"=>"2","name"=>"Carissa","num"=>"08548596258"),
);
?>
mostafatalebi at rocketmail dot com 13-Dec-2013 11:38
If you find the need to get a sorted array without it preserving the keys, use this code which has worked for me:

<?php

$array = array("hello", "fine", "good", "fine", "hello", "bye");

$get_sorted_unique_array = array_values(array_unique($array));

?>

The above code returns an array which is both unique and sorted from zero.
Felipe CWB 12-Dec-2013 01:48
array_unique only compares with the string,
But to compare with various types of variables I used like this:

<?php
/**
* master ArrayUnique
* now compare all types
* @param array $array
* @return array
*/
function arrayUnique($array)
{
    foreach ($array as $k => $v) {
        foreach ($array as $k2 => $v2) {
            if (($v2 == $v) && ($k != $k2)) {
                unset($array[$k]);
            }
        }
    }
    return $array;
}

$a = [];

$a[] = (object)['nome' => 'Bob'];
$a[] = (object)['nome' => 'Peter'];
$a[] = (object)['nome' => 'Jhon'];
$a[] = (object)['nome' => 'James'];
$a[] = (object)['nome' => 'David'];
$a[] = (object)['nome' => 'Bob']; // repeated

if ($a[0] == $a[5]) { // true
    echo 'yes';
} else {
    echo 'not';
}

echo "\n\n";

$a = arrayUnique($a);

print_r($a);
?>
CertaiN 29-Nov-2013 11:58
Let's implement array_unique_callback() !

Function:
<?php

function array_unique_callback(array $arr, callable $callback, $strict = false) {
    return array_filter(
        $arr,
        function ($item) use ($strict, $callback) {
            static $haystack = array();
            $needle = $callback($item);
            if (in_array($needle, $haystack, $strict)) {
                return false;
            } else {
                $haystack[] = $needle;
                return true;
            }
        }
    );
}

?>

Usage:
<?php

$companies = array(
    0 => array(
        'name' => 'Foo - Ltd.',
        'phone' => 'XXX-YYY-ZZZ',
        'category' => 'supplyment',
    ),
    1 => array(
        'name' => 'Bar - Ltd.',
        'phone' => 'xxx-yyy-zzz',
        'category' => 'supplyment',
    ),
    2 => array(
        'name' => 'Baz - Ltd.',
        'phone' => 'AAA-BBB-CCC',
        'category' => 'alcohol',
    ),
);

$companies = array_unique_callback(
    $companies,
    function ($company) {
        return $company['category'];
    }
);

print_r($companies);

?>

Result:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [name] => Foo - Ltd.
            [phone] => XXX-YYY-ZZZ
            [category] => supplyment
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [name] => Baz - Ltd.
            [phone] => AAA-BBB-CCC
            [category] => alcohol
        )

)
Tim S. 20-Jun-2013 04:14
I had to write a bunch of results to an array with a high probability of duplicates.
The array was written to the file in chunks, using a for loop. It occurred to me that I often had blank lines in my file.

Because this function preserve keys, I had gaps in my numeric keys. If you don't want to preserve keys, like me, you can use the following function.

<?php
function array_unique_ignore_keys(&$array, $sort_flags = SORT_STRING) {
    return array_values(array_unique($array, $sort_flags));
}
?>
bx16soupapes at gmail dot com 12-Jun-2013 04:55
Another form to make an array unique (manual):

This is my array

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => 40665
            [1] => 40665
            [2] => 40665
            [3] => 40665
            [4] => 40666
            [5] => 40666
            [6] => 40666
            [7] => 40666
            [8] => 40667
            [9] => 40667
            [10] => 40667
            [11] => 40667
            [12] => 40667
            [13] => 40668
            [14] => 40668
            [15] => 40668
            [16] => 40668
            [17] => 40668
            [18] => 40669
            [19] => 40669
            [20] => 40670
            [21] => 40670
            [22] => 40670
            [23] => 40670
            [24] => 40671
            [25] => 40671
            [26] => 40671
            [27] => 40671
            [28] => 40671
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => 40672
            [1] => 40672
            [2] => 40672
            [3] => 40672
        )

)

this is my script:

    $anterior = 0;
    foreach($item as $array_key => $array_value)
    {
            echo "<li>$array_key";
            echo "<ul>";
            foreach($array_value as $xarray_key => $xarray_value){
                if($xarray_value != $anterior) {
                    echo "<li>$xarray_key => $xarray_value";
                    $item_nuevo[$array_key][] = $xarray_value;    // or to use the same key number $item_nuevo[$array_key][$xarray_key] = $xarray_value;               
                }
                $anterior = $xarray_value;
            }
            echo "</ul>";   
    }    

result:

0
    0 => 40665
    4 => 40666
    8 => 40667
    13 => 40668
    18 => 40669
    20 => 40670
    24 => 40671

1
    0 => 40672

saludos desde chile.
yosef_cool_ha at hotmail dot com 01-Apr-2013 06:45
if you wish to unique the arrays recusively(multi dimensional) no matter how deep hope this function can help you:

function array_unique_recusive($arr){
foreach($arr as $key=>$value)
if(gettype($value)=='array')
    $arr[$key]=array_unique_recusive($value);
return array_unique($arr,SORT_REGULAR);
}
sashasimkin at gmail dot com 25-Apr-2012 10:26
My object unique function:

<?php
function object_unique( $obj ){
    $objArray = (array) $obj;

    $objArray = array_intersect_assoc( array_unique( $objArray ), $objArray );

    foreach( $obj as $n => $f ) {
        if( !array_key_exists( $n, $objArray ) ) unset( $obj->$n );
    }

    return $obj;
}
?>

And these code:

<?php
class Test{
    public $pr0 = 'string';
    public $pr1 = 'string1';
    public $pr2 = 'string';
    public $pr3 = 'string2';
}

$obj = new Test;

var_dump( object_unique( $obj ) );
?>

returns:
object(Test)[1]
  public 'pr0' => string 'string' (length=6)
  public 'pr1' => string 'string1' (length=7)
  public 'pr3' => string 'string2' (length=7)
gma (at) qoob (dot) gr 12-Nov-2011 07:07
Lets say that you want to capture unique values from multidimensional arrays and flatten them in 0 depth.

i.e.
<?php
$tmp = array( 'a' => array( 1,2,3,4 ), 'b' => array( 'c' => array( 4,5,6,7 ) ) );
?>

will return with array_flat( $tmp ) --> array( 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 );

I hope that the function will help someone

<?php
/**
 * @params      : $a            array           the recursion array
 *              : $s            array           storage array
 *              : $l            integer         the depth level
 *
 */
if( !function_exists( 'array_flat' ) )
{
    function array_flat( $a, $s = array( ), $l = 0 )
    {
        # check if this is an array
        if( !is_array( $a ) )                           return $s;
       
        # go through the array values
        foreach( $a as $k => $v )
        {
            # check if the contained values are arrays
            if( !is_array( $v ) )
            {
                # store the value
                $s[ ]       = $v;
               
                # move to the next node
                continue;
               
            }
           
            # increment depth level
            $l++;
           
            # replace the content of stored values
            $s              = array_flat( $v, $s, $l );
           
            # decrement depth level
            $l--;
           
        }
       
        # get only unique values
        if( $l == 0 ) $s = array_values( array_unique( $s ) );
       
        # return stored values
        return $s;
       
    } # end of function array_flat( ...
   
}
?>
Friendly Code 01-Aug-2011 12:48
I required a function that removed a specific duplicate entry from an array and ignoring all others so came up with this:

<?php
function specified_array_unique($array, $value)
{
    $count = 0;
   
    foreach($array as $array_key => $array_value)
    {
        if ( ($count > 0) && ($array_value == $value) )
        {
            unset($array[$array_key]);
        }
       
        if ($array_value == $value) $count++;
    }
   
    return array_filter($array);
}
?>
0cool.f 23-May-2011 12:54
Hope this can help...

<?php
function array_unique_key_group($array) {
    if(!is_array($array))
        return false;

    $temp = array_unique($array);
    foreach($array as $key => $val) {
        $i = array_search($val,$temp);
        if(!empty($i) && $key != $i) {
            $temp[$i.','.$key] = $temp[$i];
            unset($temp[$i]);
        }
    }
    return $temp;
}
?>

this function return an array that is unique, but preserve every key for the element...
sorry for bad english I'm italian...

$array['asd'] = 'value';
$array['lol'] = 'value';
$array['foo'] = 'val';
$array['bar'] = 'val';

var_dump(array_unique_key_group($array));
// will be output
array(2) { ["asd,lol"]=> string(5) "value" ["foo,bar"]=> string(3) "val" }
michiel ed thalent nl 19-Jun-2010 02:04
If you use SORT_NUMERIC on this kind of filtering it will be significantly faster.
However the array_flip method still is twice as fast.
Anonymous 16-Jun-2010 02:46
It's often faster to use a foreache and array_keys than array_unique:

    <?php

    $max = 1000000;
    $arr = range(1,$max,3);
    $arr2 = range(1,$max,2);
    $arr = array_merge($arr,$arr2);

    $time = -microtime(true);
    $res1 = array_unique($arr);
    $time += microtime(true);
    echo "deduped to ".count($res1)." in ".$time;
    // deduped to 666667 in 32.300781965256

    $time = -microtime(true);
    $res2 = array();
    foreach($arr as $key=>$val) {   
        $res2[$val] = true;
    }
    $res2 = array_keys($res2);
    $time += microtime(true);
    echo "<br />deduped to ".count($res2)." in ".$time;
    // deduped to 666667 in 0.84372591972351

    ?>
regeda at inbox dot ru 12-Apr-2010 05:11
recursive array unique for multiarrays

<?php
function super_unique($array)
{
  $result = array_map("unserialize", array_unique(array_map("serialize", $array)));

  foreach ($result as $key => $value)
  {
    if ( is_array($value) )
    {
      $result[$key] = super_unique($value);
    }
  }

  return $result;
}
?>
brendel at krumedia dot de 24-Feb-2010 08:47
Prior to 5.2.9 you may create a list of unique objects this way:

<?php
for (; ; ) {
  // ...
  $uniqueObjectList[spl_object_hash($myObject)] = $myObject;
}
?>
amri [ at t] dhstudio dot eu 18-Dec-2009 11:36
I searched how to show only the de-duplicate elements from array, but failed.
Here is my solution:

<?php
function arrayUniqueElements($array)
{
return array_unique(array_diff_assoc($array1,array_unique($array1)));
};
?>

Example:
<?php
$arr1 = array('foo', 'bar', 'xyzzy', '&', 'xyzzy',
'baz', 'bat', '|', 'xyzzy', 'plugh',
'xyzzy', 'foobar', '|', 'plonk', 'xyzzy',
'apples', '&', 'xyzzy', 'oranges', 'xyzzy',
'pears','foobar');

$result=arrayUniqueElements($arr1);
print_r($result);exit;
?>

Output:

Array
(
[4] => xyzzy
[12] => |
[16] => &
[21] => foobar
)
Youssef Omar 16-Dec-2009 08:09
This is how to merge 2 comma separated lists with unique value only.

<?php
  $list1 = "4444, 5555, 6666";
  $list2 = "4444, 5555, 7777";

  // combine both lists with unique values only
  $list3 = implode("," , array_unique(array_merge(explode(",",$list1),explode(",", $list2))));

  echo $list3;
?>

The result is: 4444,5555,6666,7777
dirk dot avery a t gmail 30-Apr-2009 05:45
Although array_unique is not intended to work with multi-dimensional arrays, it does on 5.2.9.  However, it does not for 5.2.5.  Beware.
Ultimater at gmail dot com 21-Apr-2009 03:26
Let's say you have
<?php
$v=array("blue","blue","blue","blue");
if($v[0]==$v[1] && $v[1]==$v[2] && $v[2]==$v[3])
echo "Y"; else echo "N";//Y
?>

It works but the if-statement gets a bit messy if the number of array elements gets massive.
I find it is easier to use array_unique like so:
<?php
$v=array("blue","blue","blue","blue");
echo sizeof(array_unique($v))==1?"Y":"N";//Y
?>
inithello at gmail dot com 12-Mar-2009 08:47
I noticed there was no way to tell array_unique() to ignore certain duplicated keys, so I wrote the following. I imagine there's half a dozen more efficient ways to do this, but here goes:

<?php
$array = array('foo', 'bar', 'xyzzy', '&', 'xyzzy',
               'baz', 'bat', '|', 'xyzzy', 'plugh',
               'xyzzy', 'foobar', '|', 'plonk', 'xyzzy',
               'apples', '&', 'xyzzy', 'oranges', 'xyzzy',
               'pears');

$ignore_values = array('|', '&');

print_r(make_unique($array, $ignore_values));

function make_unique($array, $ignore)
{
    while($values = each($array))
    {
        if(!in_array($values[1], $ignore))
        {
            $dupes = array_keys($array, $values[1]);
            unset($dupes[0]);
            foreach($dupes as $rmv)
            {
                unset($array[$rmv]);
            }           
        }
    }
    return $array;
}
?>
OUTPUT:
Array
(
    [0] => foo
    [1] => bar
    [2] => xyzzy
    [3] => &
    [5] => baz
    [6] => bat
    [7] => |
    [9] => plugh
    [11] => foobar
    [12] => |
    [13] => plonk
    [15] => apples
    [16] => &
    [18] => oranges
    [20] => pears
)
serg dot podtynnyi at gmail dot com 06-Feb-2009 08:21
//Remove duplicates from a text files and dump result in one file for example: emails list, links list etc

<?php

$data1 = file("data1.txt");
$data2 = file("data2.txt");

file_put_contents('unique.txt', implode('', array_unique(array_merge($data1,$data2))));
?>
jusvalceanu - SPAM at SPAM - yahoo dot com 06-Nov-2008 11:23
so .... my problem was multidimensional sort.

<?php
      $new = array();
      $exclude = array("");
      for ($i = 0; $i<=count($attribs)-1; $i++) {
         if (!in_array(trim($attribs[$i]["price"]) ,$exclude)) { $new[] = $attribs[$i]; $exclude[] = trim($attribs[$i]["price"]); }
      }

?>

Array $attribs is an array contaning arrays. Each array in the $attrib array consists in multiple fields (ex: name, lenght, price, etc.) to be more simpler in speech think that $attrib is the array resulted by a search sql query done by a visitator on your online shoopping website ... (so ... each array in the $attrib is a product :P) if you want to sort only the uniq results use the above or use this:

<?php
 
   /* Our Array of products */
   $attribs[] = array(
                           "name"         => "Test Product 1",
                           "length"     => "42 cm",
                           "weight"     => "0,5 kg",
                           "price"     => "10 $",
                           "stock"     => "100",
                        );

   $attribs[] = array(
                           "name"         => "Test Product 2",
                           "length"     => "42 cm",
                           "weight"     => "1,5 kg",
                           "price"     => "10 $",
                           "stock"     => "200",
                        );

    /* The nice stuff */

      $new = array();
      $exclude = array("");
      for ($i = 0; $i<=count($attribs)-1; $i++) {
         if (!in_array(trim($attribs[$i]["price"]) ,$exclude)) { $new[] = $attribs[$i]; $exclude[] = trim($attribs[$i]["price"]); }
      }
     
      print_r($new); // $new is our sorted array

?>

Have fun tweaking this ;)) i know you will ;))

From Romania With Love
florian at box dot net 08-Oct-2008 10:29
I came across one limitation of array_unique: it doesn't work properly if you have arrays inside your main array.

The reason is that to compare two values, the function tests if (string) $value1 == (string) $value2. So if $value1 and $value2 are both arrays, the function will evaluate the test to 'Array' == 'Array', and decide that the $values are repeated even if the arrays are different.

So a work around is to find a better conversion of an array to a string, which can be done with json:

<?php
print "define an array with repeated scalar '1' and repeated 'array(1)':";
$a_not_unique = array(
    'a' => 1,
    'b' => 1,
    'c' => 2,
    'd' => array(1),
    'e' => array(1),
    'f' => array(2),
);
print_r($a_not_unique);

print "try to use simply array_unique, which will not work since it exludes 'array(2)':";
$a_unique_wrong = array_unique($a_not_unique);
print_r($a_unique_wrong);

print "convert to json before applying array_unique, and convert back to array, which will successfully keep 'array(2)':";
$a_unique_right = $a_not_unique;
array_walk($a_unique_right, create_function('&$value,$key', '$value = json_encode($value);'));
$a_unique_right = array_unique($a_unique_right);
array_walk($a_unique_right, create_function('&$value,$key', '$value = json_decode($value, true);'));
print_r($a_unique_right);
?>

Results:
define an array with repeated scalar '1' and repeated 'array(1)':
Array
(
    [a] => 1
    [b] => 1
    [c] => 2
    [d] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [e] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [f] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2
        )
)

try to use simply array_unique, which will not work since it exludes 'array(2)':
Array
(
    [a] => 1
    [c] => 2
    [d] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )
)

convert to json before applying array_unique, and convert back to array, which will successfully keep 'array(2)':
Array
(
    [a] => 1
    [c] => 2
    [d] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [f] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2
        )
)
quecoder at gmail 26-Aug-2008 07:30
another method to get unique values is :

<?php
$alpha=array('a','b','c','a','b','d','e','f','f');

$alpha= array_keys(array_count_values($alpha));

print_r($alpha);
?>

Output:
Array ( [0] => a [1] => b [2] => c [3] => d [4] => e [5] => f )
soapergem at gmail dot com 14-Aug-2008 11:39
Here's another solution for returning an array that only includes repeated values. There is one given below but it only works on numerically indexed arrays; this one is more comprehensive since I used the foreach iterator. Also, this one preserves keys--in that the returned result contains a distinct list of repeats (storing only the first instance it encounters of each duplicate value).

<?php

function array_repeated($array)
{
    if ( !is_array($array) ) {
        return false;
    }
   
    $duplicates = array();
    foreach ( $array as $key => $val ) {
        end($array);
        $k = key($array);
        $v = current($array);
       
        while ( $k !== $key ) {
            if ( $v === $val ) {
                $duplicates[$key] = $v;
                                break;
            }
           
            $v = prev($array);
            $k = key($array);
        }
    }
   
    return $duplicates;
}

?>
Dorphalsig 28-Jul-2008 06:47
I had a problem with array_unique and multidimensional arrays ... Maybe there's a better way to do this, but this will work for any dimensional arrays.

<?php
function arrayUnique($myArray)
{
    if(!is_array($myArray))
           return $myArray;

    foreach ($myArray as &$myvalue){
        $myvalue=serialize($myvalue);
    }

    $myArray=array_unique($myArray);

    foreach ($myArray as &$myvalue){
        $myvalue=unserialize($myvalue);
    }

    return $myArray;

}
?>
PHP Expert 14-Apr-2008 02:34
Case insensitive for PHP v4.x and up.

<?php

function in_iarray($str, $a) {
    foreach ($a as $v) {
        if (strcasecmp($str, $v) == 0) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

function array_iunique($a) {
    $n = array();
    foreach ($a as $k => $v) {
        if (!in_iarray($v, $n)) {
            $n[$k]=$v;
        }
    }
    return $n;
}

$input = array("aAa","bBb","cCc","AaA","ccC","ccc","CCC","bBB","AAA","XXX");
$result = array_iunique($input);
print_r($result);

/*
Array
(
    [0] => aAa
    [1] => bBb
    [2] => cCc
    [9] => XXX
)
*/
?>
Ray dot Paseur at SometimesUsesGmail dot com 02-Mar-2008 04:46
I needed to identify email addresses in a data table that were replicated, so I wrote the array_not_unique() function:

<?php

function array_not_unique($raw_array) {
    $dupes = array();
    natcasesort($raw_array);
    reset ($raw_array);

    $old_key    = NULL;
    $old_value    = NULL;
    foreach ($raw_array as $key => $value) {
        if ($value === NULL) { continue; }
        if ($old_value == $value) {
            $dupes[$old_key]    = $old_value;
            $dupes[$key]        = $value;
        }
        $old_value    = $value;
        $old_key    = $key;
    }
return $dupes;
}

$raw_array     = array();
$raw_array[1]    = 'abc@xyz.com';
$raw_array[2]    = 'def@xyz.com';
$raw_array[3]    = 'ghi@xyz.com';
$raw_array[4]    = 'abc@xyz.com'; // Duplicate

$common_stuff    = array_not_unique($raw_array);
var_dump($common_stuff);
?>
php_array_unique [at] peterwarnock.com 19-Dec-2007 08:20
To clarify the note above Example #1, the function appears to cast the elements to strings for comparison and then return the type of the first unique element encountered. 

<?php
$input = array(0, 2, "2", 3, "9", 9);
$result = array_unique($input);
var_dump($result);
?>

array(4) {
  [0]=>
  int(0)
  [1]=>
  int(2)
  [3]=>
  int(3)
  [4]=>
  string(1) "9"
}
mnbayazit 28-Oct-2007 11:18
Case insensitive; will keep first encountered value.

<?php

function array_iunique($array) {
    $lowered = array_map('strtolower', $array);
    return array_intersect_key($array, array_unique($lowered));
}

?>
xjazey at hotmail dot com 11-Sep-2007 08:50
This is a fast solution to remove duplicate values from an array when it contains only strings or only integers:

<?php

$array = array(
  0 => 'Yellow',
  1 => 'Green',
  2 => 'Yellow',
  3 => 'Blue',
  4 => 'Yellow',
);

$uniq = array_keys(array_flip($array));

var_export($uniq);

/* Output:
array (
  0 => 'Yellow',
  1 => 'Green',
  2 => 'Blue',
)
*/

?>
webmaster at jukkis dot net 30-Jul-2007 01:08
Another way to 'unique column' an array, in this case an array of objects:
Keep the desired unique column values in a static array inside the callback function for array_filter.

Example:
<?php
/* example object */
class myObj {
  public $id;
  public $value;
  function __construct( $id, $value ) {
    $this->id = $id;
    $this->value = $value;
  }
}

/* callback function */
function uniquecol( $obj ) {
  static $idlist = array();

  if ( in_array( $obj->id, $idlist ) )
    return false;

  $idlist[] = $obj->id;
  return true;   
}

/* a couple of arrays with second array having an element with same id as the first */
$list  = array( new myObj( 1, 1  ), new myObj( 2, 100 ) );
$list2 = array( new myObj( 1, 10 ), new myObj( 3, 100 ) );
$list3 = array_merge( $list, $list2 );

$unique = array_filter( $list3, 'uniquecol' );
print_r( $list3 );
print_r( $unique );

?>

In addition, use array_merge( $unique ) to reindex.
arr1 01-Nov-2006 05:59
Just to note that array_unique, treats null values as none unique values. So if your using array_unique to detect duplicate values it will also detect multiple null values.
Ome_Henk 27-Oct-2006 09:16
For people looking at the flip flip method for getting unique values in a simple array. This is the absolute fastest method:

<?php
$unique = array_keys(array_flip($array));
?>

It's marginally faster as:
<?php
$unique = array_merge(array_flip(array_flip($array)));
?>

And it's marginally slower as:
<?php
$unique array_flip(array_flip($array)); // leaves gaps
?>

It's still about twice as fast or fast as array_unique.

This tested on several different machines with 100000 random arrays. All machines used a version of PHP5.
geuis dot teses at gmail dot com 09-Oct-2006 07:27
Here's the shortest line of code I could find/create to remove all duplicate entries from an array and then reindex the keys.

<?php

// Fruits, vegetables, and other food:
$var = array('apple','banana','carrot','cat','dog','egg','eggplant','fish');

$var = array_values(array_unique($var));
?>
keneks at gmail dot com 30-Sep-2006 04:01
Taking the advantage of array_unique, here is a simple function to check if an array has duplicate values.

It simply compares the number of elements between the original array and the array_uniqued array.

<?php

function array_has_duplicates(array $array)
{
    $uniq = array_unique($array);
    return count($uniq) != count($array);
}

?>
uditsawhney at yahoo dot com 15-Jul-2006 09:14
<?php

//Fn for array_unique column-wise for multi-dimensioanl array without losing keys | Start
function array_uniquecolumn($arr)
{
    $rows   = sizeof($arr);
    $columns = sizeof($arr[0]);
   
    $columnkeys = array_keys($arr[0]);
   

    for($i=0; $i<$columns; $i++)
    {
        for($j=0;$j<$rows;$j++)
        {
            for($k = $j+1; $k<$rows; $k++)
            {
                if($arr[$j][$columnkeys[$i]] == $arr[$k][$columnkeys[$i]])
                    $arr[$k][$columnkeys[$i]] = "";       
            }
        }
   
    }

return ($arr);

}
//Fn for array_unique column-wise for multi-dimensioanl array without losing keys | Stop

$arrUGCourse[]= array(  "CTR" => "1",

                        "UGCOURSE"=>"ABC",

                        "TSINITIATE"=>"540",

                        "COUNT"=>"34",

                        "ENTRY_DT"=>"2006-05-01",

                        "CUMULATIVE"=> 44);

 

$arrUGCourse[]= array(  "CTR" => "2",

                        "UGCOURSE"=>"ABC",

                        "TSINITIATE"=>"5401",

                        "COUNT"=>"341",

                        "ENTRY_DT"=>"2006-05-11",

                        "CUMULATIVE"=> 44);

print_r(array_uniquecolumn($arrUGCourse));

?>
MoD 14-Apr-2006 06:02
The shortest way i found to remove duplicate array from a column,
For example if you parse Multiple XML sources, you can remove duplicate items that contain the same link.

<?PHP
function        remove_duplicate($array, $field)
{
  foreach ($array as $sub)
    $cmp[] = $sub[$field];
  $unique = array_unique($cmp);
  foreach ($unique as $k => $rien)
    $new[] = $array[$k];
  return $new;
}
?>
agarcia at rsn dot com dot co 31-Mar-2006 09:41
This is a script for multi_dimensional arrays

<?php
function remove_dup($matriz) {
    $aux_ini=array();
    $entrega=array();
    for($n=0;$n<count($matriz);$n++)
    {
        $aux_ini[]=serialize($matriz[$n]);
    }
    $mat=array_unique($aux_ini);
    for($n=0;$n<count($matriz);$n++)
    {
       
            $entrega[]=unserialize($mat[$n]);
       
    }
    return $entrega;
}
?>
mcmeijer at yahoo dot com 27-Jan-2006 02:18
This is a recursive arrayUnique function for arrays of any dimension. (tested with 4-dimensional array)
The line '$newArray=deleteEmpty($newArray);' is optional and removes empty keys and values
<?php
function arrayUnique($myArray)
    {
    $newArray = Array();
    if (is_array($myArray))
        {
        foreach($myArray as $key=>$val)
            {
            if (is_array($val))
                {
                $val2 = arrayUnique($val);
                }
            else
                {
                $val2 = $val;
                $newArray=array_unique($myArray);
                $newArray=deleteEmpty($newArray);
                break;
                }
            if (!empty($val2))
                {
                $newArray[$key] = $val2;
                }
            }
        }
    return ($newArray);
    }

function deleteEmpty($myArray)
    {
    $retArray= Array();
    foreach($myArray as $key=>$val)
        {
        if (($key<>"") && ($val<>""))
            {
            $retArray[$key] = $val;
            }
        }
    return $retArray;
    }
?>
memandeemail at gmail dot com 03-Jan-2006 07:47
Problem:
I have loaded an array with the results of a database
query.  The Fields are 'FirstName' and 'LastName'.

I would like to find a way to contactenate the two
fields, and then return only unique values for the
array.  For example, if the database query returns
three instances of a record with the FirstName John
and the LastName Smith in two distinct fields, I would
like to build a new array that would contain all the
original fields, but with John Smith in it only once.
Thanks for: Colin Campbell

Solution:

<?php
/**
 * The same thing than implode function, but return the keys so
 *
 * <code>
 * $_GET = array('id' => '4587','with' => 'key');
 * ...
 * echo shared::implode_with_key('&',$_GET,'='); // Resultado: id=4587&with=key
 * ...
 * </code>
 *
 * @param string $glue Oque colocar entre as chave => valor
 * @param array $pieces Valores
 * @param string $hifen Separar chave da array do valor
 * @return string
 * @author memandeemail at gmail dot com
 */
function implode_with_key($glue = null, $pieces, $hifen = ',') {
  $return = null;
  foreach ($pieces as $tk => $tv) $return .= $glue.$tk.$hifen.$tv;
  return substr($return,1);
}

/**
 * Return unique values from a tree of values
 *
 * @param array $array_tree
 * @return array
 * @author memandeemail at gmail dot com
 */
function array_unique_tree($array_tree) {
  $will_return = array(); $vtemp = array();
  foreach ($array_tree as $tkey => $tvalue) $vtemp[$tkey] = implode_with_key('&',$tvalue,'=');
  foreach (array_keys(array_unique($vtemp)) as $tvalue) $will_return[$tvalue] = $array_tree[$tvalue];
  return $will_return;
}

$problem = array_fill(0,3,
array('FirstName' => 'John', 'LastName' => 'Smith')
);

$problem[] = array('FirstName' => 'Davi', 'LastName' => 'S. Mesquita');
$problem[] = array('FirstName' => 'John', 'LastName' => 'Tom');

print_r($problem);

print_r(array_unique_tree($problem));
?>
muddmonkey@harveyMcoldotedu 17-Aug-2005 10:44
If you're doing numeric arrays etc. I found flip-flip to work much better than array_unique:

<?PHP
    function microtime_float(){ //timing
       list($usec, $sec) = explode(" ", microtime());
       return ((float)$usec + (float)$sec);
    }

    //make an arry and fill it up
    $final=array();
    for($i=0;$i<50000;$i++){
        $final[]=$i%13; //make sure there are some dupes
    }
    //try array unique
    $start1 = microtime_float();
    array_unique($final);
    $stop1=microtime_float();
    echo($stop1-$start1.'<br>');
    //try my flip-flip
    $start2=microtime_float();
    array_flip(array_flip($final));
    $stop2=microtime_float();
    echo($stop2-$start2);
?>

Running this with only ints in the array (as above) I get runtimes such as:
1.6195669174194 (using unique)
0.017037868499756 (using flip flip)
which is two orders of magnitude faster!

Appending a string:
($final[]='test'.$i%13;)
gives:
0.42909598350525 (using unique)
0.023258924484253 (using flip-flip)
Which is not AS great, but still 20x faster than unique.

In both cases the flip-flip seems to use less memory than the unique.

Granted the flip-flip doesn't work for all cases, but if you're doing simple stuff like this, the flip-flip will give you better run times.

~JF
memandeemail at gmail dot com 15-Apr-2005 10:46
<?php
/**
 * Removes duplicate keys from an array
 *
 * @param array $array
 * @return array
 */
function array_unique_key($array) {
    $result = array();
    foreach (array_unique(array_keys($array)) as $tvalue) {
        $result[$tvalue] = $array[$tvalue];
    }
    return $result;
}
?>
csaba at alum dot mit dot edu 10-Jun-2004 04:17
The following is an efficient, adaptable implementation of array_unique which always retains the first key having a given value:

<?php
function array_unique2(&$aray) {
    $aHash = array();
    foreach ($aray as $key => &$val) if (@$aHash[$val]++) unset ($aray[$key]);
}
?>

It is also adaptable to multi dimensional arrays.  For example, if your array is a sequence of (multidimensional) points, then in place of @$aHash[$val]++ you could use @$aHash[implode("X",$val)]++
If you want to not have holes in your array, you can do an array_merge($aray) at the end.

Csaba Gabor
patrikG at home dot net 11-Mar-2004 04:05
If you need to have the keys of the duplicates in an array returned, you may find this function useful:

<?php
function unique_events($array){
    //checks $array for duplicate values and returns an
        //array containing the keys of duplicates
    $count= array_intersect_assoc($array, array_flip( array_count_values($array)));
    foreach($array as $key=>$value){
        if (in_array($value,$count)){
            $return[$value][]=$key;
        }
    }
    return $return;
}
?>

Example:

Input:
Array
(
    [0] => 44
    [1] => 23
    [2] => 23
    [3] => 23
    [4] => 9
    [5] => 9
    [6] => 9
    [7] => 9
    [8] => 9
    [9] => 9
    [10] => 9
    [11] => 9
)

Function returns:
Array
(
    [23] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
            [1] => 2
            [2] => 3
        )

    [9] => Array
        (
            [0] => 4
            [1] => 5
            [2] => 6
            [3] => 7
            [4] => 8
            [5] => 9
            [6] => 10
            [7] => 11
        )

)
martin at lucas-smith dot co dot uk 27-Jan-2003 02:12
To get a list of the duplicated values in an array, array_unique isn't much help. Instead, use array_filter in conjunction with a callback function, as below:

<?php
$checkKeysUniqueComparison = create_function('$value','if ($value > 1) return true;');
$result = array_keys (array_filter (array_count_values($array), $checkKeysUniqueComparison));
?>

These two lines therefore will create $result, an array of duplicated values in the array $array, once each. E.g. the array
$array = array ("a", "b", "a", "b", "x", "y", "z", "x");
gives the result
Array([0] => a [1] => b [2] => x)
php at hp-site dot dk 29-Aug-2002 08:15
Try this:
array_flip(array_flip($array));

It gives the same result as the old array_unique()
29-Aug-2002 11:39
<?php
$truc = array("l810u00","l810u00","l810q00");
$machin = array_unique($truc);
for($i=0;$i < count($machin) ; $i++){
print $machin[$i]."
";
}
?>
result :
l810u00

This is not strange: $machin (as returned by array unique), contains "l810u00" either in key[0] or key[1] but not both (the key depends on the ersion of PHP), and "l810q00" in key[2].
The returned array has TWO elements so count($machin)==2.
The returned array has a hole in it, and you're not displaying its full content. You could verify it by using this display loop instead:
foreach($machine as $key=>$value){
print '[' . $key . '] => ' . $value . '
";
}
result:
[0] => l810q00
[2] => l810u00
(the first line may display [1] instead of [0] for PHP 4.0.1p3, but you'll get the same order of values and two lines, as expected). When calling array_values() on the result, you're building a new array with the same values in the same order, but with renumbered keys (without holes in numeric keys).
spunk at dasspunk dot NOSPAM dot com 14-Nov-2001 01:52
I needed a way of retaining the original array's keys in the new, unique array. I came up with this. It works for my purposes but may need refinement.

<?php
function my_array_unique($somearray)
{
    asort($somearray);
    reset($somearray);
    $currentarrayvar = current($somearray);
    foreach ($somearray as $key=>$var)
    {
        if (next($somearray) != $currentarrayvar)
        {
            $uniquearray[$key] = $currentarrayvar;
            $currentarrayvar = current($somearray);
        }
    }
    reset($uniquearray);
    return $uniquearray;
}
?>
az at top-webdesign dot de 10-Jul-2001 10:00
Attention!
If you use array_unique be aware of data-types! (I spent hours of debugging because of that ...).

For example, if you've got an array containing a '3' as number and another '3' as string it won't be eliminated by array_unique.

An Example where this can happen, without really thinking about it:

I've got an article-list with product-numbers where the third and fourth digit is the code for the producer. So I read in the file an process it line by line and put each producer-code into an array:
------------------------------
<?php
$i=0;
while($line = fgets($csv, 10000) {
// splitting the line, product_no is the first part:

$data = explode(";", $line);

// putting the producer_code into an array:

$producer_id[$i] = trim(substr($data[0], 2, 2));

// make a special exception:

if(trim(substr($data[0], 2, 2)) == 40) {
$producer_id[$j] = '30';
}

// in the above line if you leave the 30 without the ''
// array_unique won't work!

$i++;
}

$producer_ids = array_values(array_unique($producer_id));
?>
-------------------------------
Result is to have all producer-ID's in an array without dupes.
rein at velt dot net 21-Apr-2001 09:44
Following code copies unique values from MyArray to TempArray.
Then copies non-empty elements from TempArray to UniqueArray.

Not the most elegant solution, but it works.

<?php
$TempArray = array_unique($MyArray);
while (list($index,$data)=each($TempArray)) {
      if (isempty($data)) {
          $UniqueArray[$index]=$data;
      }
}
?>
jllamas at bal dot com dot mx 26-Sep-2000 06:25
It seems that array_unique creates an exact copy of the original array and then elimitates duplicate values. It does NOT change the "internal references" of the array. For example:

<?php
    $test_alfa = array();
    $test_alfa[0] = "aa";
    $test_alfa[1] = "aa";
    $test_alfa[2] = "aa";
    $test_alfa[3] = "bb";
    $test_alfa[4] = "aa";
    $test_alfa[5] = "bb";
    $test_alfa[6] = "cc";
    $test_alfa[7] = "bb";
  
    $test_beta= array_unique($test_alfa);
    $numValues = count($test_beta);
    for ($i = 0 ; $i <= 7 ; $i++)
       echo("test_beta[$i] = $test_beta[$i] <br>");
    echo ("Number of elements in test_beta = $numValues ");
?>
will give you the following output:

test_beta[0] =
test_beta[1] = aa
test_beta[2] =
test_beta[3] =
test_beta[4] =
test_beta[5] = bb
test_beta[6] = cc
test_beta[7] =
Number of elements in test_beta = 3

The point is that you won't get the output you'd expect if you think that the values of the non duplicate elements are located in the first three array locations.

<?php
    $numValues = count($test_beta);
    for ($i=0;$i<=$numValues; $i++)
       echo("test_beta[$i] = $test_beta[$i] <br>");
    echo ("Number of elements in test_beta = $numValues ");
?>

will give you:

test_beta[0] =
test_beta[1] = aa
test_beta[2] =
Number of elements in test_beta = 3

Hope that saves u some debugging time!