PHP Exercises: Get the last element of a given list

Last update on April 19 2025 11:50:18 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

86. Retrieve the Last Element of a List

Write a PHP program to get the last element of a given list.

Sample Solution:

PHP Code:

<?php
// Function definition for 'last' that takes an array of items as a parameter
function last($items)
{
    // Use 'end' to retrieve the last element of the array
    return end($items);
}

// Call 'last' with an array and display the result using 'print_r'
print_r(last([1, 2, 3]));

// Display a newline
echo "\n";

// Call 'last' with another array and display the result using 'print_r'
print_r(last([2, 1, 3, -4, 5, 1, 2]));
?>

Explanation:

Function Definition:

The function last is defined to take a single parameter, $items, which is expected to be an array.

Retrieve Last Element:

Inside the function, end($items) is used to set the internal pointer of the array to its last element and return that element.

Example Usage:

The function is called with the array [1, 2, 3]:

The result (last element 3) is displayed using print_r.

A newline is printed for formatting.

Second Example Usage:

The function is called again with another array [2, 1, 3, -4, 5, 1, 2]:

The result (last element 2) is displayed using print_r.

Purpose:

The last function serves to extract and return the last element of any given array, providing a straightforward way to access the final value.

Output:

3
2

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a PHP script to output the last element of an array using reverse indexing.
Write a PHP function to return the tail element of a list ensuring proper handling of empty arrays.
Write a PHP script to retrieve and display the final item in an array without altering the original collection.
Write a PHP script to extract the last element using both array_slice and manual loop techniques.

PHP Code Editor:

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