Arrays

• Description : In this tutorial you will learn what arrays are and how to use them effectively.
• Language : PHP
• Date Added : 11th October, 2009

Welcome to another tutorial by ReadnTeach.com. By the end of the tutorial you will hopefully of learnt what an array is and and how you can use them.

Arrays are a means of storing lots of values in one place - rather than having lots of variables which slows down the script and Website. There are three types of array:

• Numeric Arrays
• Associative Array
• Multidimensional Array

We will first take a look at the simplest array - the Numeric Array. There are two methods to initiate a numeric array, both are shown below:

Code :

<?php $names = array("Harry", "Jim", "Sarah", "John"); ?>

Code :

<?php $names[0] = "Harry"; $names[1] = "Jim"; $names[2] = "Sarah"; $names[3] = "John"; ?>

You'll notice above that arrays use index numbers to refer to values stored in the array. This value always starts at 0 and increases by one each time a new value is added. To output a value in an array you would use the following code:

Code :

<?php echo $names[0] . " is friends with " . $names[2]; ?>

Output:

Harry is friends with Sarah

The second type of array is an associative array which allows you to associate one value with another within an array. An example below explains how to do this. Again there are two methods:

Code :

<?php $namesToAges = array("Harry"=>15, "Jim"=>16, "Sarah"=>18); ?>

Code :

<?php $namesToAges['Harry'] = "15"; $namesToAges['Jim'] = "16"; $namesToAges['Sarah'] = "18"; ?>

You can then use this type of array to output something like:

Code :

<?php echo "Harry is " . $namesToAges['Harry'] . " years old."; ?>

Output:

Harry is 15 years old.

Finally we come to multidimensional arrays, which are slightly more complex than the other arrays. They allow you to store arrays within arrays. The code is below, don't worry if you don't understand first time:

Code :

<?php $cars = array ( "Renault"=>array ( "Megane", "Clio", "Scenic" ), "Ford"=>array ( "Fiesta" "Ka" ), "Vauxhall"=>array ( "Astra", "Corsa", ) ); ?>

So that concludes another tutorial by ReadnTeach.com, in the next tutorial we will look at If and If Else statements!

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