 <pre><code>&lt;?php $fruits = array( array('name'=&gt;'banana', 'color'=&gt;'yellow' , 'shape'=&gt;'cylinder'), array('name'=&gt;'apple', 'color'=&gt;'red' , 'shape'=&gt;'sphere'), array('name'=&gt;'orange', 'color'=&gt;'orange' , 'shape'=&gt;'sphere') ); $result = false; foreach($fruits as $subarray) { if( in_array('apple', $subarray) ) { $result = true; break; } } echo "result is ", ($result ? "TRUE" : "FALSE"); ?&gt; </code></pre>