I Missed JavaScript Arrays… So I Rebuilt Them in PHP 🐘

Omar Anwar — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 14:04:53 +0000

Moving between JavaScript and PHP is fun... until you touch arrays.

In JavaScript, chaining array methods feels natural:

arr.map().filter().reduce()

In PHP?
You can do similar things, but it often feels fragmented, noisy, or
less expressive.

That's why I built JsArray --- a small PHP library inspired by
JavaScript arrays, focused on readability, predictability, and
developer happiness.

What is JsArray?

JsArray is a lightweight wrapper around native PHP arrays that gives
you familiar methods like:

map
filter
reduce
forEach
find
every
some

All chainable. All explicit. All pure PHP.

$result = JsArray::from([1, 2, 3, 4])
    ->map(fn($n) => $n * 2)
    ->filter(fn($n) => $n > 4)
    ->toArray();

// [6, 8]

No magic. No macros. Just clean, readable code.

Immutable by Default (Safe Mode 🛡️)

By default, JsArray is immutable.

That means every operation returns a new instance, and the original
array stays untouched.

$original = JsArray::from([1, 2, 3]);
$doubled  = $original->map(fn($n) => $n * 2);

$original->toArray(); // [1, 2, 3]
$doubled->toArray();  // [2, 4, 6]

Why this matters

No accidental side effects
Easier debugging
More predictable behavior
Very familiar if you come from JavaScript or FP-style code

Mutable Mode (When You Want Performance ⚡)

Sometimes, you do want to mutate the array directly --- especially in
performance-critical paths.

In mutable mode, methods modify the same instance instead of
creating new ones.

$array = JsArray::from([1, 2, 3])->mutable();

$array->map(fn($n) => $n * 2);
$array->filter(fn($n) => $n > 2);

$array->toArray(); // [4, 6]

Final Thoughts

If you:

write PHP daily
enjoy JavaScript-style APIs
care about readable, maintainable code

Then JsArray might feel right at home.

I’m still iterating on it, so feedback, ideas, and criticism are very welcome 🙌
DX matters — we stare at this code all day anyway.