How to access first element of Page Reference field using a selector?

[Clarity]

Hello everyone!

I need to access first element of Page Reference (and generally first element of any collection) field using a selector. Something like $pages->find('page_reference.first=value'). I can't find how to do it in the documentation. Can you please advice me how to do it?

[3fingers]

https://processwire.com/api/ref/wire-array/first/

[Clarity]

Thank you, but can I actually use it in the selector string? I need to find the pages with specific Page Reference and access the first element of them, not simply get the first page of the collection.

[3fingers]

What about:

$pages->findOne('page_reference=value')

Not tested but findOne method should return just the first occurence of the page array.

[Clarity]

Sorry if I was unclear, but it's not quite what I want. I need all pages with this Page Reference and with given in the selector value of the first element of this Page Reference, not the first page with this Page Reference.

[bernhard]

I'm not sure if that is possible with a selector, but a workaround would be to add a second hidden field to your template and create a hook that populates that field on save or saveReady. Then you can simple use a selector like this: $pages->find("template=yourtemplate, your_hidden_reference_field=$yourpage");

[Clarity]

Thank you, I already found that I can use additional single-valued Page Reference for my purposes.