should i use a loop or write each repetition

[guillermobytes]

hi, i have a code that is repeated 3 times and i wonder if i better use a for loop or just leave it explicitly coded. here is the code:

    $partsCopy = $this->_parts;
    $pos = array_search($newOrder[0], $this->_order);
    $this->_parts[0] = $partsCopy[$pos];
    $pos = array_search($newOrder[1], $this->_order);
    $this->_parts[1] = $partsCopy[$pos];
    $pos = array_search($newOrder[2], $this->_order);
    $this->_parts[2] = $partsCopy[$pos];

or i should do this :

$partsCopy = $this->_parts;
for ($i = 0; $i < 3; $i++) {
    $pos = array_search($newOrder[$i], $this->_order);
    $this->_parts[$i] = $partsCopy[$pos];
}

i don't know which is the best approach since the count is so little and the code inside the loop too.
if you have any suggestions let me know

[Atli]

Hey.

Ideally you would want to avoid hard-coding the number of repetitions needed. It allows you to dynamically change the output without having to change the code.

In your code, does the $newOrder have more than 3 elements? If the number of elements in $newOrder changed, would the code have to reflect that?
If so, the you might want to do something more like:

$partsCopy = $this->_parts;
$count = count($newOrder);
for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) { 
    $pos = array_search($newOrder[$i], $this->_order); 
    $this->_parts[$i] = $partsCopy[$pos]; 
}

Now the code would work no matter how many items $newOrder has.

[guillermobytes]

Thanks Atli,
no the number of repetitions will never change.
the parts here are those of a Date (day, month, year) and the program does not care about time in minutes or anything like that, so i'm sure 100% that the parts will always be 3.

so given that the parts will always be 3 and that the repeated code is very short, is it better to use a for loop or just hard code the 3 repetitions?

[Markus]

You could, of course, skip the need to count the elements by using a foreach loop.

foreach ($this->_parts as $key => $data) {
    // ...
}