What does ‘array’ mean in PHP?

10 months ago

Noah Thompson

2 minutes

In PHP, `array` is a data type used to store an ordered collection of multiple values. It is one of the most commonly used and flexible data structures in PHP.

An `array` can hold values of different types, such as integers, strings, floats, booleans, objects, etc. Each value in the array is associated with a unique key for accessing and retrieving that value. These keys can be either numbers or strings.

In PHP, arrays can be declared and initialized in the following two ways:

Use the `array()` function:

$array = array(value1, value2, value3, ...);

“Among them, `value1`, `value2`, `value3`, and so on are elements in the array.”

2. Utilize simplified syntax (since PHP version 5.4)

$array = [value1, value2, value3, ...];

Elements in an array can be accessed and modified through keys. For example, to access the first element in an array, you can use the following syntax:

$value = $array[0];

To assign new values to elements in an array, you can use the same syntax.

$array[0] = $newValue;

In addition, PHP offers many built-in functions for operating and manipulating arrays, such as `count()`, `sort()`, `array_push()`, making array manipulation more convenient and efficient.