What are Arrays in PHP?

• Arrays are used to store multiple values under a common name.
• An array is a special variable that can store multiple values.

Array Initialization in PHP

• array() is used to create an empty array.
• Suppose if you want to initialize a variable as an empty array, you can use it like this.

  $variable_name = array();
  //Where $variable_name is the name of the variable
  //Eg., $countries, $states, $colours etc.

• Arrays in PHP can be divided into three,
  1. Indexed Arrays
  2. Associative Arrays
  3. Multidimensional Arrays

Indexed Arrays

• Indexed arrays are the arrays in PHP with a numeric index.
• Indexed arrays can be created by two methods.
  1. Assigned automatically
  2. Assigned manually

 Assigned Automatically

• Syntax

  $array_name = array(value1,value2,...$valuen);

• Example

  $colours = array("red","blue","green","yellow");

Associative arrays

• Associative arrays are the arrays with named index.
• There are two ways to create an associative array in PHP.

Assigned Automatically

• Syntax

  $array_name = array(name1=>value1, name2=>value2,..... namen=>valuen);

• Example

  $colours = array("colour1"=>"red", "colour2"=>"blue", "colour3"=>"green");

Assigned Manually

• Syntax

  $array_name['name1'] = $value1;
  $array_name['name2'] = $value2;
  $array_name['name3'] = $value3;
  ...............
  $array_name['namen'] = $valuen;

• Example

  $colours['colour1'] = "red"; $colours['colour2'] = "blue"; $colours['colour3'] = "green";

Multidimensional Arrays

• A multidimensional array or Two dimensional (2D) array is an array of arrays.
• We can store the data in the table in a multidimensional array.

  $vehicles = array(
   array('VehicleA',10,111),
   array('VehicleB',11,222)
   -----------------------
   -----------------------
  );