Finding the 'next' key in an array

without stepping through the entire array

[penders]

Given an arbitrary array key in an associative array is there a more efficient way of finding the next array key without having to step through the array foreach() style?

Currently I'm doing something like:

$nextkey = false; 
$foundit = false; 
foreach($myarray as $key => $value) { 
 if ($foundit) {$nextkey = $key; break;} 
 if ($key == $searchkey) {$foundit = true;}   
} 
return $nextkey; 

I was hoping I could reset() the array to a particular key, and then perhaps do a next(), but this doesn't seem to be possible?

[mcavic]

Hmm, I don't see another way.

[joelgreen]

I searched few forums and could not find any solution which would be smarter than yours. All are based on foreach of while loops.

[whoisgregg]

There's a function to set the array's internal pointer to a particular index on the PHP manual page for Array functions [us.php.net] in the comments. It uses a loop as well, but you may find it's implementation to be helpful. :)

Added: The comment is by a "Colin" at 10-Feb-2007 12:31.