{foreach} is used to loop over an
associative array as well a numerically-indexed array,
unlike {section}
which is for looping over numerically-indexed arrays only.
The syntax for
{foreach} is much easier than
{section},
but as a tradeoff it can only be used
for a single array. Every {foreach} tag must be
paired with a closing {/foreach} tag.
| Attribute Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| from | array | Yes | n/a | The array you are looping through |
| item | string | Yes | n/a | The name of the variable that is the current element |
| key | string | No | n/a | The name of the variable that is the current key |
| name | string | No | n/a | The name of the foreach loop for accessing foreach properties |
Required attributes are from and item.
The name of the {foreach} loop can be anything
you like, made up of letters, numbers and underscores, like
PHP variables.
{foreach} loops can be nested, and the nested
{foreach} names must be unique from each other.
The from attribute, usually an array of values,
determines the number of times {foreach} will loop.
{foreachelse} is executed when there are no
values in the from variable.
{foreach} loops also have their own variables that handle properties.
These are accessed with:
{$smarty.foreach.name.property} with
“name” being the
name attribute.
The name attribute is only required when
you want to access a {foreach} property, unlike
{section}.
Accessing a {foreach} property with name
undefined does not throw an error, but leads to unpredictable results instead.
{foreach} properties are
index,
iteration,
first,
last,
show,
total.
Example 7.5. The item attribute
<?php
$arr = array(1000, 1001, 1002);
$smarty->assign('myArray', $arr);
?>
Template to output $myArray in an un-ordered list
<ul>
{foreach from=$myArray item=foo}
<li>{$foo}</li>
{/foreach}
</ul>
The above example will output:
<ul>
<li>1000</li>
<li>1001</li>
<li>1002</li>
</ul>
Example 7.6. Demonstrates the item and key attributes
<?php
$arr = array(9 => 'Tennis', 3 => 'Swimming', 8 => 'Coding');
$smarty->assign('myArray', $arr);
?>
Template to output $myArray as key/val pair,
like PHP's foreach.
<ul>
{foreach from=$myArray key=k item=v}
<li>{$k}: {$v}</li>
{/foreach}
</ul>
The above example will output:
<ul>
<li>9: Tennis</li>
<li>3: Swimming</li>
<li>8: Coding</li>
</ul>
Example 7.7. {foreach} with associative item attribute
<?php
$items_list = array(23 => array('no' => 2456, 'label' => 'Salad'),
96 => array('no' => 4889, 'label' => 'Cream')
);
$smarty->assign('items', $items_list);
?>
Template to output $items with
$myId in the url
<ul>
{foreach from=$items key=myId item=i}
<li><a href="item.php?id={$myId}">{$i.no}: {$i.label}</li>
{/foreach}
</ul>
The above example will output:
<ul> <li><a href="item.php?id=23">2456: Salad</li> <li><a href="item.php?id=96">4889: Cream</li> </ul>
Example 7.8. {foreach} with nested item and key
Assign an array to Smarty, the key contains the key for each looped value.
<?php
$smarty->assign('contacts', array(
array('phone' => '1',
'fax' => '2',
'cell' => '3'),
array('phone' => '555-4444',
'fax' => '555-3333',
'cell' => '760-1234')
));
?>
The template to output $contact.
{foreach name=outer item=contact from=$contacts}
<hr />
{foreach key=key item=item from=$contact}
{$key}: {$item}<br />
{/foreach}
{/foreach}
The above example will output:
<hr /> phone: 1<br /> fax: 2<br /> cell: 3<br /> <hr /> phone: 555-4444<br /> fax: 555-3333<br /> cell: 760-1234<br />
Example 7.9. Database example with {foreachelse}
A database (eg PEAR or ADODB) example of a search script, the query results assigned to Smarty
<?php
$search_condition = "where name like '$foo%' ";
$sql = 'select contact_id, name, nick from contacts '.$search_condition.' order by name';
$smarty->assign('results', $db->getAssoc($sql) );
?>
The template which display “None found”
if no results with {foreachelse}.
{foreach key=cid item=con from=$results}
<a href="contact.php?contact_id={$cid}">{$con.name} - {$con.nick}</a><br />
{foreachelse}
No items were found in the search
{/foreach}
index contains the current array index, starting with zero.
Example 7.10. index example
{* The header block is output every five rows *}
<table>
{foreach from=$items key=myId item=i name=foo}
{if $smarty.foreach.foo.index % 5 == 0}
<tr><th>Title</th></tr>
{/if}
<tr><td>{$i.label}</td></tr>
{/foreach}
</table>
iteration contains the current loop iteration and always
starts at one, unlike index.
It is incremented by one on each iteration.
Example 7.11. iteration and index example
{* this will output 0|1, 1|2, 2|3, ... etc *}
{foreach from=$myArray item=i name=foo}
{$smarty.foreach.foo.index}|{$smarty.foreach.foo.iteration},
{/foreach}
first is TRUE if the current {foreach}
iteration is the initial one.
Example 7.12. first property example
{* show LATEST on the first item, otherwise the id *}
<table>
{foreach from=$items key=myId item=i name=foo}
<tr>
<td>{if $smarty.foreach.foo.first}LATEST{else}{$myId}{/if}</td>
<td>{$i.label}</td>
</tr>
{/foreach}
</table>
last is set to TRUE if the current
{foreach} iteration is the final one.
Example 7.13. last property example
{* Add horizontal rule at end of list *}
{foreach from=$items key=part_id item=prod name=products}
<a href="#{$part_id}">{$prod}</a>{if $smarty.foreach.products.last}<hr>{else},{/if}
{foreachelse}
... content ...
{/foreach}
show is used as a parameter to {foreach}.
show is a boolean value. If
FALSE, the {foreach} will not be displayed.
If there is a {foreachelse} present, that will be alternately displayed.
total contains the number of iterations that this
{foreach} will loop.
This can be used inside or after the {foreach}.
Example 7.14. total property example
{* show rows returned at end *}
{foreach from=$items key=part_id item=prod name=foo}
{$prod.name}<hr/>
{if $smarty.foreach.foo.last}
<div id="total">{$smarty.foreach.foo.total} items</div>
{/if}
{foreachelse}
... something else ...
{/foreach}
See also {section}
and $smarty.foreach.