get all parent terms of a term using php - Notice: Array to string conversion

Question

I have term with tid=9 (sublevel 3). It is nested under 2 other terms. I use following code to get names of its parent terms:

    <?php
//term id of term that you are checking for top parent
$term_tid = '9';
//this will be your top parent term if any was found
$top_parent_terms = array();

$parent_terms = taxonomy_get_parents_all($term_tid);

//top parent term has no parents so find it out by checking if it has parents
foreach($parent_terms as $parent) {
  $parent_parents = taxonomy_get_parents_all($parent->tid);
  if ($parent_parents != false) {
    //this is top parent term
    $top_parent_term[] = $parent;
  }
return $top_parent_term;
}
?>

Problem: As a result I am getting "array" with error: "Notice: Array to string conversion in php_eval() " instead of terms names. I tried bunch of other solutions but none of them work or I get same error (for example here https://api.drupal.org/comment/59421#comment-59421)

Answer 1

I think this is closer to what you want:

<?php
    //term id of term that you are checking for top parent
    $term_tid = '9';
    $parent_terms = taxonomy_get_parents_all($term_tid);

    //top parent term has no parents so find it out by checking if it has parents
    foreach ($parent_terms as $parent) {
      $parent_parents = taxonomy_get_parents_all($parent->tid);
      if (empty($parent_parents)) {
        //this is top parent term
        return $parent;
      }
    }
?>

Explanation:

• You don't need the $top_parent_terms variable. You can return the first $parent you encounter that doesn't have a $parent_parent.
• You were also probably having issues because you declare $top_parent_terms, but reference $top_parent_term (missing an 's').
• Also, this bit $top_parent_term[] = $parent would produce a result like this: $top_parent_term = array(0 => $parent) when you probably want $top_parent_term = $parent.
• Note that the returned $parent variable will be an object, not an array. taxonomy_get_parents_all returns an array of term objects.