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Find the most common value in an array….

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Mar 16.2005

Is there a way to find the most commonly occuring value in an array?

For example, if $array[0] = “Red” / $array[1] = “Blue” / $array[2] = “Red” / $array[3] = “Yellow” how would I return that “Red” is the most common value? I made some big complicated routine but I got errors like crazy.

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PHP

10 Comments(s) ↴

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@NogDogMar 16.2005 — [code=php]
<?php
# returns most common value in input array
function array_most_common($input)
{
$counted = array_count_values($input);
arsort($counted);
return(key($counted));
}
[/code]
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@abudabitauthorMar 16.2005 — Wow! That's about 1/5th the code I came up with. Didn't know how to use array_count_values.
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@NogDogMar 17.2005 — [i]Originally posted by abudabit [/i]

[B]Wow! That's about 1/5th the code I came up with. Didn't know how to use array_count_values. [/B][/QUOTE]
Yeah, I started thinking about how to do it, had a bunch of lines of code, then I thought, "Hey, let's see what array functions PHP has that might make this easier." As usual, I found some. ?
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@aadiJul 22.2010 — [code=php]$res=mysql_query("select * FROM check");
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($res)){
$input[]=$row['value'];
}
# returns most common value in input array
function array_most_common($input)
{
$counted = array_count_values($input);
arsort($counted);
return(key($counted));

} [/code]

where i can echo most common value.....?

and 1 want sort by most common
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@NogDogJul 22.2010 — [code=php]$res=mysql_query("select * FROM check");
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($res)){
$input[]=$row['value'];
}
# returns most common value in input array
function array_most_common($input)
{
$counted = array_count_values($input);
arsort($counted);
return(key($counted));

} [/code]

where i can echo most common value.....?

and 1 want sort by most common[/QUOTE]

[code=php]
echo array_most_common($input);
[/code]
(After you finish populating $input)
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@anejoblancoJul 19.2011 — Breaking out the Necronomicon as this thread answered my question perfectly. How would I return the top 10 results?
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@NogDogJul 19.2011 — Breaking out the Necronomicon as this thread answered my question perfectly. How would I return the top 10 results?[/QUOTE]

After doing the arsort(), use array_slice() to grab the first 10 array elements.
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@anejoblancoJul 19.2011 — Thanks for the reply, its doing what I wanted it to do ... sort of. I've adjusted the code so that the variable $top_ten is the results of array_slice, and then to return that variable. The problem is when I then use echo to print out those results it simply prints out "Array".

[code=php]
function array_most_common($array)
{
$counted = array_count_values($array);
arsort($counted);
$top_ten = array_slice($counted, 0, 9);
return ($top_ten);

}

echo array_most_common($array);

[/code]

I have also tried it this way...

[code=php]
function array_most_common($array)
{
$counted = array_count_values($array);
arsort($counted);
array_slice($counted, 0, 9);
return (key($counted));

}

echo array_most_common($array);
[/code]

That only returns the first value in position 0 regardless of what I point it at as the start position, if I remove key it once again returns "Array". I'm not sure what I am doing wrong here for it to just return the word array I must be missing out a vital step.

Might also be worth mentioning (probably not but this is what i'm finding), If I have array_slice put its results into a variable like in the first example, then whilst it only returns one value from my array it does return the correct value from the position i tell it to start at.
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@NogDogJul 19.2011 — Since you'll be dealing with an array of the top ten, you'll have to either to a foreach() on the result, or possibly an implode() in order to output the results.
[code=php]
<?php
function array_most_common($array)
{
$counted = array_count_values($array);
arsort($counted);
$top_ten = array_slice($counted, 0, 9);
return ($top_ten);

}
$mostCommon = array_most_common($array);
?>
<table>
<tr><th>Item</th><th>Count</th></tr>
<?php
foreach($mostCommon as $item => $count) {
echo "<tr><td>$item</td><td>$count</td></tr>n";
}
?>
</table>
[/code]
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@anejoblancoJul 19.2011 — Aha thank you, I had a feeling that I had to use a foreach loop but I was using it in the completely wrong place, now seeing it in the right place makes understanding its usage a lot easier, thanks again.
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