Create an array and access array elements in PHP
Tags: php, webdev, tutorial, web
Published: 2022-04-17 10:15:46

In PHP, we can create indexed and associative arrays, where integer and string can be used as keys respectively.

## Indexed array

You can use the function <code class="language-php">array()</code> to create an array.
```php
$animal = array("dog", "cat", "sheep", "rabbit", "pig");
```
In the above example, PHP automatically assigns a numeric index to each element. To print out the details of the array <code class="language-php">$animal</code>, you can use the function <code class="language-php">print_r()</code>.

```php
print_r($animal);
```

The above code will output:

```
Array ( [0] => dog [1] => cat [2] => sheep [3] => rabbit [4] => pig ) 
```
As you can see, the index starts from `0` and increase by `1` for each element. You can use the `array[key]` syntax to access array elements.

```php
print_r($animal[2]);
```

Output:

```
sheep
```

Or you can define your own numeric index explicitly for each array elements.

```php
$animal = array(5=>"dog", 8=>"cat", 9=>"sheep", 14=>"rabbit", 15=>"pig");
print_r($animal);
echo "<br>";
print_r($animal[14]);
```
The output will be:
```
Array ( [5] => dog [8] => cat [9] => sheep [14] => rabbit [15] => pig )
rabbit
```

## Associative array

You can also create an array in an associative style, where you can use your own string as a key for each element. With this kind of array, you can store data like using a database.

```php
$student = array("First Name"=>"Emma", "Last Name"=>"Brown", "Age"=>12, "Class"=>"6H");
print_r($student);
echo "<br>";
print_r($student["First Name"]);
echo "<br>";
print_r($student["Age"]);
```

In the above code snippet, the variable <code class="language-php">$student</code> stores a student's personal data with different keys: <code class="language-php">"First Name"</code>, 
<code class="language-php">"Last Name"</code>, <code class="language-php">"Age"</code> and <code class="language-php">"Class"</code>.<br>

The output will be:

```
Array ( [First Name] => Emma [Last Name] => Brown [Age] => 12 [Class] => 6H )
Emma
12
```

## Loop through an array

To iterate over the whole array, PHP's <code class="language-php">foreach</code> loop is a convenient way.

```php
$student = array("First Name"=>"Emma", "Last Name"=>"Brown", "Age"=>12, "Class"=>"6H");

foreach ($student as $key => $value) {
    echo "{$key}: {$value}<br>";
}
```

Output:

```
First Name: Emma
Last Name: Brown
Age: 12
Class: 6H
```

## Create an array of objects

If you want to create an array of objects, you can do like this:

```php
class Car {
    public $brand;
    public $model;
    public $color;
}

$cars = array();
$cars[0] = new Car;
$cars[0]->brand = 'Honda';
$cars[0]->model = 'Jazz';
$cars[0]->color = 'Blue';

$cars[1] = new Car;
$cars[1]->brand = 'Toyota';
$cars[1]->model = 'Yaris';
$cars[1]->color = 'White';
```

In the above code snippet, class `Car` is defined followed by the initialization of the array of objects 

```php
$cars = array();
```

Here, we create two sample objects in `$cars[0]` and `$cars[1]`.
To loop through this array of objects, you can do as follows: 

```php
foreach ($cars as $key => $obj) {
    echo "{$key}: {$obj -> brand}<br>";
    echo "{$key}: {$obj -> model}<br>";
    echo "{$key}: {$obj -> color}<br>";
}
```

The output is:
```
0: Honda
0: Jazz
0: Blue
1: Toyota
1: Yaris
1: White
```

Thanks for reading!
To find more programming tutorials, please visit: [CodeBilby.com](https://www.codebilby.com)