How do I return the cat_name value instead of array with PHP?

I did some digging and I understand that the array means there are multiple values coming back from my query. From another post I found print_r so I could see the values. How do I return one of the values though?

This:

<?php 

    $category = get_the_category();
    $parent = get_cat_name($category[0]->category_parent);
    $cat_name = get_the_category($category[cat_name]);
    echo 'category' . $category . '<br />';
    echo 'parent: ' . $parent . '<br />';
    echo 'Cat Name: ' . $cat_name . '<br />';

    print_r ($cat_name);

    ?>

Returns this:

categoryArray
parent: Location
Cat Name: Array
Array (
  [0] => stdClass Object (
    [term_id] => 11
    [name] => 开发者_运维问答nashville
    [slug] => nashville
    [term_group] => 0
    [term_taxonomy_id] => 11
    [taxonomy] => category
    [description] =>
    [parent] => 8
    [count] => 1
    [object_id] => 20
    [cat_ID] => 11
    [category_count] => 1
    [category_description] =>
    [cat_name] => nashville
    [category_nicename] => nashville
    [category_parent] => 8
  )
)

How do I make $cat_name return nashville? cat_name = nashville according to the print_r function. This is a wordpress site if that makes a difference, but I am guessing this is a simple coding question.

You're actually dealing with an object there, which is the first element in an array.

Note it says Array ( [0] => stdClass Object (

Use the square brace syntax to access array members

$array_name['key_name']

And the arrow for objects properties

$object->property_name

So in this case,

$category[0]->cat_name

is 'nashville'.

I hope this helps, it looks like you're just asking how to access the value from an array, correct me if I'm wrong. But to get the cat_name from your category array, the syntax would be;

$category['cat_name'];

With this you can access the value.

echo $category['cat_name'];

Should print it to the screen.