Why PHP keeps resetting the array pointer?

Question

So I spent 2 hours trying to figure this out, minimizing the code as much as possible to isolate the problem, yet I can't figure this out.

So I have this code:

$arr['key']['name'] = array("one", "two", "three");

$counter = 0;
do
{
    $cur = current($arr);

    $k = key($arr['key']['name']);
    next($arr['key']['name']);
}while($k !== null);

This is a never ending loop. For some reason, after going through all the $arr['key']['name'] values, key() instead of returning NULL, goes back to 0 again. Removing $cur = current($arr); however solves that problem. According to php manual, current() doesn't affect the array pointer at all. Now I know that copying an array will reset its pointer but there's no copying going on and if there was $k would constantly be zero instead of going from 0 to 2 and then resetting back to 0.

Answer 1

current() doesn't move the array pointer for the array you use it on, but you're using it on different arrays. It is resetting the pointer for the nested arrays.