note 24482 rejected from function.is-array by victor

is_array contains a flaw I'm using PHP 4.0.6-15 on a Red Hat Linux 7.2. The flaw is: when use is_array to test an array of mixed elements of associative elements and arrays, the associative elements will be considered as arrays (non-associative elements won't pass the test). For example: $as_ar = array( array("me" => "5", "you"=>"6", "him" => "3", "her"=>"2", "us"=>"4", 12, 8), "lone"=>9, array("red"=>"3", "yellow"=>"4", "green"=>"5", "cyan"=>"6", "blue"=>"3", "purple"=>"3.2"), array("east"=>"2", "west"=>"3", "south"=>"4", "north"=>"5", "up"=>"6", "down"=>"8", "come"=>"10", "go"=>"1") ); if (is_array($as_ar[1])){ echo "The second element is an array."; } This will print the message. Now, if you believe the test result, you would do: foreach ($as_ar[1] as $key => $value){ echo "The key is ".$key.";\tthe value is ".$value; } Obviously, PHP4 will complain about the element passed to foreach not being an array element. Which one to trust? The is_array test or foreach complaint? For the sake of consistancy with the name, anything but array should never pass is_array test. To get the non-array element from the array could be tricky. But the following works fine: $keyRing = array_keys ($as_ar); $theKey = $keyRing[1]; $theValue = $as_ar[$theKey]; Hope this helps someone. I also suggest the code masters to perfect the is_array test. It might be worth adding something like an is_associative_element test or something better. Thank you.