PHP 5.4 Illegal String Offset Error -

i using foreach construct @ array returned function. unfortunately, function returns different structures if there 1 result if there more 1 result. when there single result, following:

array(3) {   ["name"]=>   string(5) "chris"   ["admin"]=>   string(5) "chris"   ["time"]=>   string(19) "2014/06/27 12:36:31" } string(34) "$1$9243ujf0i2j8ehdf24hdf9a8" 

i trying ["name"] value out. if use following code, variable has right data illegal string offset error:

foreach($res[1]['result']['user']['entry'] $user) {   $s = $user['name'];   echo $s; } 

how array["name"] value? or have different @ higher level? raw data follows when there single entry:

array(2) {   ["@attributes"]=>   array(2) {     ["status"]=>     string(7) "success"     ["code"]=>     string(2) "19"   }   ["result"]=>   array(2) {     ["@attributes"]=>     array(2) {       ["total-count"]=>       string(1) "1"       ["count"]=>       string(1) "1"     }     ["user"]=>     array(2) {       ["@attributes"]=>       array(2) {         ["admin"]=>         string(5) "chris"         ["time"]=>         string(19) "2014/06/27 12:39:58"       }       ["entry"]=>       array(2) {         ["@attributes"]=>         array(3) {           ["name"]=>           string(5) "chris"           ["admin"]=>           string(5) "chris"           ["time"]=>           string(19) "2014/06/27 12:36:31"         }         ["phash"]=>         string(34) "$1$9243ujf0i2j8ehdf24hdf9a8"       }     }   } } 

and following when there more 1 entry:

array(2) {   ["@attributes"]=>   array(2) {     ["status"]=>     string(7) "success"     ["code"]=>     string(2) "19"   }   ["result"]=>   array(2) {     ["@attributes"]=>     array(2) {       ["total-count"]=>       string(1) "1"       ["count"]=>       string(1) "1"     }     ["user"]=>     array(2) {       ["@attributes"]=>       array(2) {         ["admin"]=>         string(5) "chris"         ["time"]=>         string(19) "2014/06/27 12:57:32"       }       ["entry"]=>       array(2) {         [0]=>         array(2) {           ["@attributes"]=>           array(3) {             ["name"]=>             string(5) "chris"             ["admin"]=>             string(5) "chris"             ["time"]=>             string(19) "2014/06/27 12:36:31"           }           ["phash"]=>           string(34) "$1$9243ujf0i2j8ehdf24hdf9a8"         }         [1]=>         array(2) {           ["@attributes"]=>           array(3) {             ["name"]=>             string(4) "test"             ["admin"]=>             string(5) "chris"             ["time"]=>             string(19) "2014/06/27 12:57:32"           }           ["phash"]=>           string(34) "$1$as9d8jf238r9jf89j9238jr"         }       }     }   } } 

note indexed array level after ["entry"]. basically, want list of ["name"] values.

the service returns different structure depending on number of results broken begin with. if cannot fixed, try normalize data before processing this:

if (!isset($res[1]['result']['user']['entry'][1]) {     // not array, change structure array 1 element:     $res[1]['result']['user']['entry'] = array($res[1]['result']['user']['entry']); }  // process data if service returning array