How to get the last element of an array without deleting it?

What's wrong with array_slice($array, -1)? (See Manual: http://us1.php.net/array_slice)

array_slice() returns an array. Probably not what you are looking for. You want the element.

As of PHP version 7.3 the functions array_key_first and array_key_last has been introduced.

Since arrays in PHP are not strict array types, i.e. fixed sized collections of fixed sized fields starting at index 0, but dynamically extended associative array, the handling of positions with unknown keys is hard and workarounds do not perform very well. In contrast real arrays would be internally addressed via pointer arithmethics very rapidly and the last index is already known at compile-time by declaration.

At least the problem with the first and last position is solved by builtin functions now since version 7.3. This even works without any warnings on array literals out of the box:

$first = array_key_first( [1, 2, 'A'=>65, 'B'=>66, 3, 4 ] );
$last  = array_key_last ( [1, 2, 'A'=>65, 'B'=>66, 3, 4 ] );

Obviously the last value is:

$array[array_key_last($array)];

How about this?

Eg-

$arr = [1,2,3];
$lastElem = count($arr) ? $arr[count($arr) - 1] : null;

The top answers are great, but as mentioned by @paul-van-leeuwen and @quasimodos-clone, PHP 7.3 will introduce two new functions to solve this problem directly - array_key_first() and array_key_last().

You can start using this syntax today with the following polyfill (or shim) functions.

// Polyfill for array_key_last() available from PHP 7.3
if (!function_exists('array_key_last')) {
  function array_key_last($array) {
    return array_slice(array_keys($array),-1)[0];
  }
}

// Polyfill for array_key_first() available from PHP 7.3
if (!function_exists('array_key_first')) {
  function array_key_first($array) {
    return array_slice(array_keys($array),0)[0];
  }
}

// Usage examples:
$first_element_key   = array_key_first($array);
$first_element_value = $array[array_key_first($array)];

$last_element_key    = array_key_last($array);
$last_element_value  = $array[array_key_last($array)];

Caveat: This requires PHP 5.4 or greater.

As of PHP 7.3, array_key_last is available

$lastEl = $myArray[array_key_last($myArray)];

You will get last element from an array easily by using below logic

$array = array('a', 'b', 'c', 'd');
echo ($array[count($array)-1]);

Not only last element but you can also get second last, third last and so on by using below logic.

for second last element you have to pass just number 2 in the above statement for example:
echo ($array[count($array)-2]);

Nowadays, I'd prefer always having this helper, as suggested at an php.net/end answer.

<?php
function endc($array) {
    return end($array);
}

$items = array('one','two','three');
$lastItem = endc($items); // three
$current = current($items); // one
?>

This will always keeps the pointer as it is and we will never have to worry about parenthesis, strict standards or whatever.

Note: For (PHP 7 >= 7.3.0) we can use array_key_last — Gets the last key of an array

array_key_last ( array $array ) : mixed

Ref: http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-key-last.php

Most solutions here are unreliable for unassociated arrays, because if we have an unassociated array with the last element being false, then end and current(array_slice($array, -1)) will also return false so we can't use false as an indicator of an empty unassociated array.

// end returns false form empty arrays
>>> $arr = []
>>> end($arr)
=> false

// last element is false, so end returns false,
// now we'll have a false possitive that the array is empty
>>> $arr = [1, 2, 3, false]
>>> end($arr)
=> false

>>> $arr = [1, 2, 3, false, 4]
>>> end($arr)
=> 4

Same goes for current(array_slice($arr, -1)):

// returns false form empty arrays
>>> $arr = []
>>> current(array_slice($arr, -1))
=> false

// returns false if last element is false
>>> $arr = [1, 2, 3, false]
>>> current(array_slice($arr, -1))
=> false

>>> $arr = [1, 2, 3, false, 4]
>>> current(array_slice($arr, -1))
=> 4

Best option is to use array_key_last which is available for PHP >= 7.3.0 or for older versions, we use count to get the last index (only for unassociated arrays):

// returns null for empty arrays
>>> $arr = []
>>> array_key_last($arr)
=> null

// returns last index of the array
>>> $arr = [1, 2, 3, false]
>>> array_key_last($arr)
=> 3

// returns last index of the array
>>> $arr = [1, 2, 3, false, 4]
>>> array_key_last($arr)
=> 4

For older versions, we can use count:

>>> $arr = []
>>> if (count($arr) > 0) $arr[count($arr) - 1]
// No excecution

>>> $arr = [1, 2, 3, false]
>>> if (count($arr) > 0) $arr[count($arr) - 1]
=> false

>>> $arr = [1, 2, 3, false, 4]
>>> if (count($arr) > 0) $arr[count($arr) - 1]
=> 4

That's all for unassociated arrays. If we are sure that we have associated arrays, then we can use end.

Use the end() function.

$array = [1,2,3,4,5];
$last = end($array); // 5

my simple solution, pretty and easy to understand.

array_reverse($array)[0];

array_values(array_reverse($array))[0] works in all those situations.