PHP Associative Arrays

Syntax

Syntax for associative arrays:

array(key=>value,key=>value,key=>value,etc.)

Associative arrays are arrays that use named keys that you assign to them.

There are two ways to create an associative array:

$age = array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");

or the key and value can be assigned manually:

$age['Peter'] = "35";
$age['Ben'] = "37";
$age['Joe'] = "43";

The named keys can then be used in a script:

<?php
$age = array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");
echo "Peter is ".$age['Peter']." years old.";
?>

Loop Through an Associative Array

To loop through and print all the values of an associative array, you could use a foreach loop, like this:

<?php
$age = array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");

foreach($age as $x => $x_value) {
  echo "Key=".$x.", Value=".$x_value;
  echo "<br />";
}
?>