function endswithy($name) { return (substr($name, -1) == 'y'); } $people = array( "Johnny"=>array("year"=>1989, "job"=>"prof"), "Timmy"=>array("year"=>1989, "job"=>"std"), "Bobby"=>array("year"=>1988), "Sam"=>array("year"=>1983), "Tammy"=>array("year"=>1985), "Danny"=>array("year"=>1983), "Joe"=>array("year"=>1989,"job"=>"prof") ); $peopleEndingInY = array_filter($people, 'endswithy', ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY); // Outputs: 5 var_dump(count($peopleEndingInY));