Can I create an enumeration from an array or a collection of values in PHP?

Hey everyone,

I've been working on a PHP project where I need to define a set of constants or enumerated values. However, instead of explicitly defining each value individually, I was wondering if there is a way to create an enumeration from an array or a collection of values.

The reason I'm looking for this approach is that I have a large number of values that I want to group together and use as constants throughout my code. Instead of manually writing them all out, it would be much more convenient if I could define an array or a collection and then generate an enumeration from it.

I know that PHP doesn't have a built-in enumeration type like some other programming languages, but I'm hoping there might be a workaround or a clever solution to achieve this. I've tried searching online and reading the PHP documentation, but I haven't found a clear answer yet.

If anyone has dealt with a similar situation or knows a way to accomplish this, I would greatly appreciate your help! Thanks in advance.

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fredy96

July 14 2023 at 08:56 PM

Hey there,

I've been in a similar situation before and found a solution to create an enumeration from an array in PHP. One approach you can take is to define a class with static properties and initialize them with the values from your array.

Here's an example to illustrate this:

php
class MyEnumeration {

    public const VALUE_ONE = 'One';

    public const VALUE_TWO = 'Two';

    public const VALUE_THREE = 'Three';

}



$values = [

    MyEnumeration::VALUE_ONE,

    MyEnumeration::VALUE_TWO,

    MyEnumeration::VALUE_THREE,

];



// Now you have an enumeration-like structure with the values from the array

By defining the constants within a class, you can access them using the scope resolution operator `::` and treat them as an enumeration. This way, you can easily reference and reuse these values throughout your code. Just make sure the values in the array correspond to the constant names and are unique.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

Helpful (10)

erich.doyle

July 08 2023 at 03:52 PM

Hey,

I've faced a similar need to create an enumeration from an array in PHP, and I'd like to share my approach with you. Instead of defining individual constants in a class, you can leverage the power of PHP 7.1 onwards, which introduced the "SplEnum" class.

First, make sure you have the SPL Types extension installed. Then, you can define an abstract class that extends SplEnum and initialize it with an array of values.

Here's an example:

php
abstract class MyEnumeration extends SplEnum {

    const VALUE_ONE = 1;

    const VALUE_TWO = 2;

    const VALUE_THREE = 3;



    protected static $enum = [

        self::VALUE_ONE,

        self::VALUE_TWO,

        self::VALUE_THREE,

    ];

}



// Now you have an enumeration-like structure with the values from the array

By extending SplEnum and defining the array of values, you can create a flexible enumeration that enforces type safety. You can access the enumeration values using class constants and perform type checks as well.

This approach can prove useful when you need to represent a set of constants derived from an array or collection, offering a convenient and elegant solution.

I hope this alternative helps you out! If you have any further questions or need more details, feel free to ask.

Helpful (10)

Can I create an enumeration from an array or a collection of values in PHP?

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