V.Shakya Software Developer & Consultant 
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An array stores multiple values in one single variable:
Example
<?php
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$cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota"); |
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echo "I like " . $cars[0] . ", " . $cars[1] . " and " . $cars[2] . "."; |
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?>
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What is an Array?
An array is a special variable, which can hold more than one value at a time.
If you have a list of items (a list of car names, for example), storing the cars in single variables could look like this:
$cars1=”Volvo”;
$cars2=”BMW”;
$cars3=”Toyota”;
However, what if you want to loop through the cars and find a specific one? And what if you had not 3 cars, but 300?
The solution is to create an array!
An array can hold many values under a single name, and you can access the values by referring to an index number.
Create an Array in PHP
In PHP, the array() function is used to create an array:
array();
In PHP, there are three types of arrays:
Indexed arrays – Arrays with a numeric index
Associative arrays – Arrays with named keys
Multidimensional arrays – Arrays containing one or more arrays
PHP Indexed Arrays
There are two ways to create indexed arrays:
The index can be assigned automatically (index always starts at 0):
$cars=array(“Volvo”,”BMW”,”Toyota”);
or the index can be assigned manually:
$cars[0]=”Volvo”;
$cars[1]=”BMW”;
$cars[2]=”Toyota”;
The following example creates an indexed array named $cars, assigns three elements to it, and then prints a text containing the array values:
Example
<?php
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$cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota"); |
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echo "I like " . $cars[0] . ", " . $cars[1] . " and " . $cars[2] . "."; |
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?>
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Get The Length of an Array – The count() Function
The count() function is used to return the length (the number of elements) of an array:
Example
<?php
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$cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota"); |
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echo count($cars); |
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?>
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Loop Through an Indexed Array
To loop through and print all the values of an indexed array, you could use a for loop, like this:
Example
<?php
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$cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota"); |
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$arrlength=count($cars); |
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for($x=0;$x<$arrlength;$x++) { |
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echo $cars[$x]; |
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echo "<br>"; |
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}
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?>
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PHP Associative Arrays
Associative arrays are arrays that use named keys that you assign to them.
There are two ways to create an associative array:
$age=array(“Peter”=>”35″,”Ben”=>”37″,”Joe”=>”43″);
or:
$age[‘Peter’]=”35″;
$age[‘Ben’]=”37″;
$age[‘Joe’]=”43”;
The named keys can then be used in a script:
Example
<?php
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$age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43"); |
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echo "Peter is " . $age['Peter'] . " years old."; |
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?>
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Loop Through an Associative Array
To loop through and print all the values of an associative array, you could use a foreach loop, like this:
Example
<?php
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$age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43"); |
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foreach($age as $x=>$x_value) { |
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echo "Key=" . $x . ", Value=" . $x_value; |
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echo "<br>"; |
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}
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?>
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