array

Synopsis

Returns

Array formed of the values or key/value pairs given as arguments

Description

array() is a language construct used to create an array with zero or more elements. Each argument passed to the function is used as a single element for the array.

By default, the construct creates a numerically indexed array such as $array[0]. The indices start at 0 and increase by one for every element in the array. For example, this would create an array with five elements: $list = array ('alpha', 'zappa', 'bravo', 4, 2);. The first element ( 'alpha') would be stored at key 0, and the second element ('zappa') would be stored at key 1.

String indexes and specific numeric indexes can be created using the special key => value syntax when calling array() . For example, $jim = array ("birthday" => "1967/09/21", "favorite cake" => "Coconut"); would create a two-element array where the first value could be accessed via $jim['birthday'] and the second element could be accessed via $jim['favorite cake'].

array() doesn't return a special value on failure, as it will only fail on syntax errors that stop the script anyway.

Calls to array() can be nested to create multidimensional arrays.

Example

// Create a three-element numerically indexed array
$my_array = array("one", "two", "three");

// Create a three-element string indexed array
$assoc_array = array("a"=>"x", "b"=>"y", "c"=>"z");

// Create a mixed string and numerically indexed array
$mixed_array = array("foo"=>"bar", "COBOL","Pascal");

// Create a multidimensional array
$multi_array = array(array(1, 2, 3), array('a', 'b', 'c'));