Remove Nested Values in Laravel with data_forget Function

Need to remove values from deeply nested arrays? Laravel's data_forget function brings a convenient way to handle nested data removal using simple dot notation.

Basic Usage

Remove a single nested value:

$data = ['products' => ['desk' => ['price' => 100]]];

data_forget($data, 'products.desk.price');
// Result: ['products' => ['desk' => []]]

Using Wildcards

Handle multiple items with asterisk notation:

$data = [
    'products' => [
        ['name' => 'Desk 1', 'price' => 100],
        ['name' => 'Desk 2', 'price' => 150],
    ],
];

data_forget($data, 'products.*.price');
// Result: ['products' => [['name' => 'Desk 1'], ['name' => 'Desk 2']]]

Real-World Example

Here's how you might use it in a data cleaning service:

class DataSanitizer
{
    public function cleanUserData(array $userData)
    {
        // Remove sensitive information
        data_forget($userData, 'payment.*.card_number');
        data_forget($userData, 'payment.*.cvv');
        
        // Remove temporary processing data
        data_forget($userData, 'orders.*.processing_metadata');
        
        // Clear cached calculations
        data_forget($userData, 'statistics.*.calculated_values');
        
        return $userData;
    }

    public function prepareApiResponse(array $data)
    {
        // Remove internal fields
        data_forget($data, 'items.*.internal_id');
        data_forget($data, 'items.*.stock_location');
        
        // Remove null values
        foreach ($data['items'] ?? [] as $key => $item) {
            if (isset($item['variants'])) {
                data_forget($data, "items.{$key}.variants.*.null_fields");
            }
        }
        
        return $data;
    }
}

The data_forget function simplifies the process of removing specific data from complex nested structures.

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