Associative Arrays

The PHP associative array are lists or groups that already have multiple values, grouped by indexes or serials.

The basic array syntax would be like the below.

array( ... );

// or

[ ... ]

PHP Associative Array Overview

The associative array contains a list of values grouped by labels. So each value inside the associative array has a label name.

The associative array can be written as the below.

<?php 
  $package = array(
     "book"  => "Rich Dad",
     "softs" => "Anti Virus",
     "food"  => "Cheese",
     "tools" => "Pencil",
     "pc"    => "Laptop",
     "paper" => "Printed Paper"
  );
?><?php 
  $package = array(
     "book"  => "Rich Dad",
     "softs" => "Anti Virus",
     "food"  => "Cheese",
     "tools" => "Pencil",
     "pc"    => "Laptop",
     "paper" => "Printed Paper"
  );
?>

These labels also named as keys.

Anyway, in the following sections I will show you how to create, add, delete elements from the associative array.

Also, you can access all elements by calling it by the square brackets [] for example.

<?php 
  echo $package["key1"]; // value 1
?><?php 
  echo $package["key1"]; // value 1
?>

PHP Associative Array: Creating Elements

To create associative array, you have two ways as the below.

<?php 
  $package = array(
     "user" => "Peter",
     "email" => "peter@mail.com
  );
?><?php 
  $package = array(
     "user" => "Peter",
     "email" => "[email protected]
  );
?>

And you can add more elements using the square brackets [] as the below.

<?php 
  $package["age"]  = "35 years";
  $package["city"] = "Liverpool";
?><?php 
  $package["age"]  = "35 years";
  $package["city"] = "Liverpool";
?>

So each new element has a new different key, Also you can update the array using square brackets [] by calling the same key name of the array element. For example.

<?php 
  $package["user"]  = "Montasser"; 
?><?php 
  $package["user"]  = "Montasser"; 
?>

In the following section you will learn how to delete an element from the associative array.

Delete an Element From the Associative Array

As I mentioned, the associative array has a key name for each element. So you can delete an element using the key name.

Here I will use unset() PHP built-in function to remove an array element.

<?php  
  // delete the email element from the array
  unset( $array["email"] ); // will delete an element
?><?php  
  // delete the email element from the array
  unset( $array["email"] ); // will delete an element
?>

To loop on the associative array you have to read this article.

Wrapping Up

The associative array contains a list of values grouped by labels. So each value inside the associative array has a label name or key name.

You can access the associative array by calling it by its key name like this: $array["email"]. Also, to delete an element from the associative array you have to use unset().