PHP’s array functions are extensive enough that most developers only know a fraction of them — a handful of the less obvious ones eliminate entire loops of manual code.
$nums = [5, 3, 8, 1, 9]; array_map(fn($n) => $n * 2, $nums); // [10, 6, 16, 2, 18] array_filter($nums, fn($n) => $n > 4); // [5, 8, 9] (keys preserved) array_reduce($nums, fn($c, $n) => $c + $n, 0); // 26 $users = [['name' => 'Alice', 'age' => 30], ['name' => 'Bob', 'age' => 25]]; array_column($users, 'name'); // ['Alice', 'Bob'] usort($users, fn($a, $b) => $a['age'] <=> $b['age']); in_array(8, $nums); // true array_unique([1, 2, 2, 3]); // [1, 2, 3] array_chunk($nums, 2); // [[5,3],[8,1],[9]]
Reaching for array_map/array_filter/array_reduce instead of manual foreach loops usually produces shorter, more declarative code — worth the habit even though a plain loop is never technically wrong.