PHP array_slice() Function: Description, Parameters, Return Value, and Usage Examples

Function Overview

The array_slice() function returns a portion of an array based on the specified offset and optional length parameters.

Parameters

array : The input array.

offset : If non‑negative, the slice starts at that index; if negative, it starts that many elements from the end of the array.

length (optional): The number of elements to extract. A positive value extracts forward, a negative value stops that many elements from the end, and omitting it extracts to the end of the array.

preserve_keys (optional, default false ): When true , original array keys are retained; otherwise the function reindexes numerically.

Return Value

Returns an array containing the selected slice of the original array.

Examples

<?php
$input = array("a", "b", "c", "d", "e");

// Example 1: Get elements from index 2 to the end
$output = array_slice($input, 2);
// $output contains "c", "d", "e"

// Example 2: Get one element two positions from the end
$output = array_slice($input, -2, 1);
// $output contains "d"

// Example 3: Get the first three elements, preserving original keys
$output = array_slice($input, 0, 3, true);
// $output contains [0 => "a", 1 => "b", 2 => "c"]

// Example 4: Using print_r to display results
print_r(array_slice($input, 2, -1));
// Outputs: Array ( [0] => c )
print_r(array_slice($input, 2, -1, true));
// Outputs: Array ( [2] => c )
?>