# PHP array_slice() Function

PHP Array Reference

## Example

Start the slice from the third array element, and return the rest of the elements in the array:

<?php
$a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");
print_r(array_slice($a,2));
?>
Run example »

## Definition and Usage

The array_slice() function returns selected parts of an array.

Note: If the array have string keys, the returned array will always preserve the keys (See example 4).

## Syntax

array_slice(array,start,length,preserve)

Parameter | Description
--- | ---
array | Required. Specifies an array

start

Required. Numeric value. Specifies where the function will start the slice. 0 = the first element. If this value is set to a negative number, the function will start slicing that far from the last element. -2 means start at the second last element of the array.

length

Optional. Numeric value. Specifies the length of the returned array. If this value is set to a negative number, the function will stop slicing that far from the last element. If this value is not set, the function will return all elements, starting from the position set by the start-parameter.

preserve

Optional. Specifies if the function should preserve or reset the keys. Possible values:

- true - Preserve keys
- false - Default. Reset keys

## Technical Details

Return Value: | Returns selected parts of an array
PHP Version: | 4+
Changelog: | The preserve parameter was added in PHP 5.0.2

## More Examples

## Example 1

Start the slice from from the second array element, and return only two elements:

<?php
$a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");
print_r(array_slice($a,1,2));
?>
Run example »

## Example 2

Using a negative start parameter:

<?php
$a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");
print_r(array_slice($a,-2,1));
?>
Run example »

## Example 3

With the preserve parameter set to true:

<?php
$a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");
print_r(array_slice($a,1,2,true));
?>
Run example »

## Example 4

With both string and integer keys:

<?php
$a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow","e"=>"brown");
print_r(array_slice($a,1,2));
$a=array("0"=>"red","1"=>"green","2"=>"blue","3"=>"yellow","4"=>"brown");
print_r(array_slice($a,1,2));
?>
Run example »

PHP Array Reference

### WEB HOSTING

UK Reseller Hosting

### WEB BUILDING

FREE Website BUILDER Free HTML5 Templates

### W3SCHOOLS EXAMS

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, jQuery, XML, and ASP Certifications

### SHARE THIS PAGE

### Color Picker

### HTML/CSS

HTML Tutorial HTML5 Tutorial CSS Tutorial CSS3 Tutorial Bootstrap Tutorial

### JavaScript

JavaScript Tutorial jQuery Tutorial jQuery Mobile Tutorial AngularJS Tutorial AJAX Tutorial JSON Tutorial

### Graphics

Canvas Tutorial SVG Tutorial Google Maps Tutorial

### Server Side

SQL Tutorial PHP Tutorial ASP Tutorial ASP.NET Tutorial VBScript Tutorial AppML Tutorial

### Web

Web Building Web Statistics Web Certification

### XML

XML Tutorial DTD Tutorial Schema Tutorial XML DOM Tutorial XPath Tutorial XSLT Tutorial XQuery Tutorial XSL-FO Tutorial RSS Tutorial WSDL Tutorial

### HTML/CSS

HTML Tag Reference HTML Event Reference HTML Color Reference CSS 1,2,3 Reference Bootstrap Reference

### JavaScript

JavaScript Reference HTML DOM Reference jQuery Reference jQuery Mobile Reference Google Maps Reference

### Server Side

PHP Reference SQL Reference ASP Reference VBScript Reference Razor Reference ASP.NET Reference

### XML

XML DOM Reference XSLT Reference XSL-FO Reference XPath Reference XQuery Reference Schema Reference RSS Reference SVG Reference

### HTML Charsets

HTML Character Sets HTML ASCII HTML ANSI HTML Windows-1252 HTML ISO-8859-1 HTML Symbols HTML UTF-8

### HTML/CSS

HTML Examples CSS Examples

### Browser Scripting

JavaScript Examples HTML DOM Examples jQuery Examples jQuery Mobile Examples AngularJS Examples AJAX Examples

### Server Scripting

PHP Examples ASP Examples VBScript Examples Razor Examples .NET Examples

### XML Languages

XML Examples DTD Examples XML DOM Examples XSL Examples XSLT Examples XPath Examples XQuery Examples Schema Examples RSS Examples SVG Examples