Online PHP editor | output for Gs3He

<?php $list = [ [ 'name' => 'this is items name', 'number' => 1, 'description' => 'this is description', 'id' => 'just some id' ], [ 'name' => 'this is items name2', 'number' => 1, 'description' => 'this is description2', 'id' => 'just some id' ], 'test' => [ 'name' => 'this is items name3', 'number' => 1, 'description' => 'do not find this one', 'id' => 'just some id' ], 'preserve_this_key_please' => [ 'name' => 'this is items name4', 'number' => 1, 'description' => 'this is something, key preserved', 'id' => 'just some id' ], ]; function getKeysBy($array, $key, $value){ return array_keys(array_filter($array,function($val) use ($key,$value) { //return $val[$key] === $value;//exact match return strpos($val[$key], $value) === 0; } )); } var_dump(getKeysBy($list, 'description', 'this is'));