Arrays can store multiple values in a single variable:
<?php $cars = array ( " Volvo " , " BMW " , " Toyota " ) ; echo " I like " . $cars [ 0 ] . " , " . $cars [ 1 ] . " and " . $cars [ 2 ] . " . " ; ?>
An array is a special variable that can store multiple values in a single variable.
If you have a list of items (for example: a list of car names), store it into a single variable like this:
$cars1="Volvo";$cars2="BMW";$cars3="Toyota";
However, what if you want to iterate through the array and find a specific one? What if the array has not just 3 items but 300?
The solution is to create an array!
Arrays can store multiple values in a single variable and you can access the values within them based on their keys.
In PHP, the array() function is used to create arrays:
array();
In PHP, there are three types of arrays:
numeric array - array with numeric ID keys
Associative array - an array with specified keys, each key associated with a value
Multidimensional array - an array containing one or more arrays
There are two ways to create numeric arrays:
Automatically assign ID keys (ID keys always start from 0):
$cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");Manually assign ID keys:
$cars[0]="Volvo";$cars[1]="BMW";$cars[2]="Toyota";
The following example creates a numeric array named $cars, assigns three elements to the array, and then prints a text containing the array values:
<?php $cars = array ( " Volvo " , " BMW " , " Toyota " ) ; echo " I like " . $cars [ 0 ] . " , " . $cars [ 1 ] . " and " . $cars [ 2 ] . " . " ; ?>
The count() function is used to return the length (number of elements) of an array:
<?php $cars = array ( " Volvo " , " BMW " , " Toyota " ) ; echo count ( $cars ) ; ?>
To iterate through and print all the values in a numeric array, you can use a for loop as shown below:
<?php $cars = array ( " Volvo " , " BMW " , " Toyota " ) ; $arrlength = count ( $cars ) ; for ( $x = 0 ; $x < $arrlength ; $x ++ ) { echo $cars [ $x ] ; echo " <br> " ; } ?>
An associative array is an array using specified keys that you assign to the array.
There are two ways to create associative arrays:
$age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");or:
$age['Peter']="35";$age['Ben']="37";$age['Joe']="43";
The specified key can then be used in the script:
<?php $age = array ( " Peter " => " 35 " , " Ben " => " 37 " , " Joe " => " 43 " ) ; echo " Peter is " . $age [ ' Peter ' ] . " years old. " ; ?>
To iterate through and print all the values in an associative array, you can use a foreach loop as follows:
<?php $age = array ( " Peter " => " 35 " , " Ben " => " 37 " , " Joe " => " 43 " ) ; foreach ( $age as $x => $x_value ) { echo " Key= " . $x . " , Value= " . $x_value ; echo " <br> " ; } ?>
Multidimensional arrays will be introduced in detail in the PHP advanced tutorial section.
For a complete reference manual for all array functions, visit our PHP Array Reference Manual.
This reference manual provides a brief description and application examples of each function!