{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.
Note: 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.
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
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
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}|{$smarty.foreach.foo.iteration}, {/foreach}
.first
first is TRUE if the current {foreach}
iteration is the initial one.
Example 7-12. first property example
{* show LATEST on the first item, otherwise the id *} <table> {foreach from=$items key=myId item=i name=foo} <tr> <td>{if $smarty.foreach.foo.first}LATEST{else}{$myId}{/if}</td> <td>{$i.label}</td> </tr> {/foreach} </table>
.last
last is set to TRUE if the current
{foreach} iteration is the final one.
Example 7-13. last property example
{* Add horizontal rule at end of list *} {foreach from=$items key=part_id item=prod name=products} <a href="#{$part_id}">{$prod}</a>{if $smarty.foreach.products.last}<hr>{else},{/if} {foreachelse} ... content ... {/foreach}
.show
show is used as a parameter to {foreach}.
show is a boolean value. If
FALSE, the {foreach} will not be displayed.
If there is a {foreachelse} present, that will be alternately displayed.
.total
total contains the number of iterations that this
{foreach} will loop.
This can be used inside or after the {foreach}.
Example 7-14. total property example
{* show rows returned at end *} {foreach from=$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}