how to find next available array item?

[galvin]

Say i have an array (called $myarray) and it has 10 numbers in it like this...

 

1

2

4

8

9

10

12

14

15

18

 

Now in my code, I get a number and lets say for this example it is "5". 

 

I need to see if that number is in the array --easy enough using in_array()--, but if it is NOT in the array, I need to find the next available number in the array that is greater than my starting number of 5  (which would be "8" in this example).

 

But what is the best way to find this number (i.e. 8 in this example)?

 

I imagine I need to somehow loop through but i'm not sure which loop is the best to use and i'm generally confusing the hell out of myself (which is frustrating because this is probably rather simple to do ).

 

Can anyone help guide me in the right direction? 

[requinix]

A foreach loop is the one you want to use. Make sure the array is sorted first - use sort() if it might not be.

[PaulRyan]

Try something like the following, provding you don't need the array again it will work, if you do then I could figure something else out, just let me know

 

<?PHP

  $array = array('1','2','4','8','9','10','12','14','15','18');

  $number = 5;

  if(!in_array($number,$array)) {
    array_push($array,"$number");
    sort($array);
    foreach($array AS $value) {
      if($value == $number) {
        $number = current($array);
      }
    }
  }

  echo $number;
?>

 

Regards, PaulRyan.