In this tutorial, we will explore how we can use the array() method in PHP to create an index array and assign elements to it.
In PHP, an array is a data structure that can hold an ordered list of values. It is a composite data type that allows you to store multiple values of the same data type under a single variable name.
Under the hood, an array in PHP is an ordered map. A map is an associative data type that stores keys mapped to a given value.
PHP Declare Array Using the Array() Function
The array()
function in PHP is a built-in function that allows us to create an array. It can take zero or more comma-separated values as arguments and return an array containing those values.
Function Syntax
The following shows the syntax of the array()
method in PHP.
array(mixed ...$values): array
Function Parameters
The function values
as the parameter. You can have single values separated by a list or a index => values
elements separated by a comma.
It is good to keep in mind that if the index of the elements in the array is omitted, the function will automatically generate the indexes starting at index 0
.
If the starting index is provided, the next index generated will be the biggest integer index + 1
Function Return Value
The function will return an array of the provided parameters. The parameters can be given an index using the =>
operator.
Example 1
The following example shows how to use the array()
function in PHP to create a simple array.
$myArray = array('MySQL', 'PostgreSQL', 'SQL Server');
In this example, we are creating an array with three elements of string
type.
Example 2
As mentioned, we can also use the array()
function to create an associative array where each element is identified by a key. We can pass the key value pairs to the function as shown in the example below:
$databases = array(
'MySQL' => 3306,
'PostgreSQL' => 5432,
'SQL Server' => 1433
);
In this case, we create an associative array with three key-value pairs. The keys are the names of the databases while the values are the corresponding port for each.
Example 3
The following example also demonstrates how to use the array()
function to create a 1-index based array.
<?php
$db = array(1 => 'MySQL', 'PostgreSQL', 'SQL Server');
?>
And there you have it, a way to create arrays in PHP using the array()
method.
NOTE: The array()
function is a language construct used to represent literal arrays, and not a regular function.
Example 4
We can also use the array()
method to create a multi-dimensional array in PHP. We can do this by nesting one or more arrays inside another array.
An example of a 2d array using the array function is as shown:
$myArray = array(
array('apple', 'banana', 'cherry'),
array('red', 'yellow', 'black'),
array(1, 2, 3)
);
Conclusion
In this post, we explored how we can create a literal and associative arrays using the array()
function in PHP.
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