An array is a data structure that stores one or more similar types of values in a single value. For example if you want to store 100 numbers then instead of defining 100 variables it’s easy to define an array of 100 length.
Numeric Array
These arrays can store numbers, strings and any object but their index will be represented by numbers. By default array index starts from zero.
Example
Following is the example showing how to create and access numeric arrays. Here we have used array() function to create an array. This function is explained in function reference.
<?php
/* First method to create an array. */
$numbers = array( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5);
foreach( $numbers as $value ) {
echo “Value is $value <br />”;
}
/* Second method to create an array. */
$numbers[0] = “one”;
$numbers[1] = “two”;
$numbers[2] = “three”;
$numbers[3] = “four”;
$numbers[4] = “five”;
foreach( $numbers as $value ) {
echo “Value is $value <br />”;
}
?>
This will produce the following result −
Value is 1
Value is 2
Value is 3
Value is 4
Value is 5
Value is one
Value is two
Value is three
Value is four
Value is five
Associative Arrays
The associative arrays are very similar to numeric arrays in terms of functionality but they are different in terms of their index. Associative arrays will have their index as string so that you can establish a strong association between key and values.
To store the salaries of employees in an array, a numerically indexed array would not be the best choice. Instead, we could use the employees names as the keys in our associative array, and the value would be their respective salary.
Example
<html>
<body>
<?php
/* First method to associate create array. */
$salaries = array(“mohammad” => 2000, “qadir” => 1000, “zara” => 500);
echo “Salary of mohammad is “. $salaries[‘mohammad’] . “<br />”;
echo “Salary of qadir is “. $salaries[‘qadir’]. “<br />”;
echo “Salary of zara is “. $salaries[‘zara’]. “<br />”;
/* Second method to create array. */
$salaries[‘mohammad’] = “high”;
$salaries[‘qadir’] = “medium”;
$salaries[‘zara’] = “low”;
echo “Salary of mohammad is “. $salaries[‘mohammad’] . “<br />”;
echo “Salary of qadir is “. $salaries[‘qadir’]. “<br />”;
echo “Salary of zara is “. $salaries[‘zara’]. “<br />”;
?>
</body>
</html>
Result −
Salary of mohammad is 2000
Salary of qadir is 1000
Salary of zara is 500
Salary of mohammad is high
Salary of qadir is medium
Salary of zara is low
Multidimensional Arrays
A multidimensional array each element in the main array can also be an array. And each element in the sub-array can be an array, and so on. Values in the multi-dimensional array are accessed using multiple indexes.
Example
In this example we create a two dimensional array to store marks of three students in three subjects −
<?php
$marks = array(
“mohammad” => array (
“physics” => 35,
“maths” => 30,
“chemistry” => 39
),
“qadir” => array (
“physics” => 30,
“maths” => 32,
“chemistry” => 29
),
“zara” => array (
“physics” => 31,
“maths” => 22,
“chemistry” => 39
)
);
/* Accessing multi-dimensional array values */
echo “Marks for mohammad in physics : ” ;
echo $marks[‘mohammad’][‘physics’] . “<br />”;
echo “Marks for qadir in maths : “;
echo $marks[‘qadir’][‘maths’] . “<br />”;
echo “Marks for zara in chemistry : ” ;
echo $marks[‘zara’][‘chemistry’] . “<br />”;
?>
Result −
Marks for mohammad in physics : 35
Marks for qadir in maths : 32
Marks for zara in chemistry : 39
anand.johari1994