PHP Tutorials - Arrays (Part 2) !!

[ram]

Hi [you],

PHP Tutorials - Arrays (Part 2)

In this PHP Tutorial you will learn Arrays (Part 2) - Looping with foreach( ), Sorting arrays and Using Multidimensional Arrays.

Looping with foreach( ):

The easiest way to iterate through each element of an array is with foreach( ).
The foreach( ) construct lets you run a code block once for each element in an array.

Example:

    $fruits = array('apple', 'banana', 'orange');
    print "<table>\n";
    foreach ($fruits as $fruit) {
    print "<tr><td>$fruit</td></tr>\n";
    }
    print '</table>';

This will print:

   <table>
    <tr><td>apple</td></tr>
    <tr><td>banana</td></tr>
    <tr><td>orange</td></tr>
    </table>

if you want to know what element you're on as you're iterating through a numeric array, use for( ) instead of foreach( ).

Your for( ) loop should depend on a loop variable that starts at 0 and continues up to one less than the number of elements in the array.

Example:

    $fruits = array('apple', 'banana', 'orange');
    $num = count($fruits);
    for ($i = 0, $i < $num; $i++) {
    print "Fruit number $i is $fruits[$i]\n";
    }

This will print:

    Fruit number 0 is apple
    Fruit number 0 is banana
    Fruit number 0 is orange

Sorting arrays:

To sort array values, you can use the function sort().

Example:

    $dinner = array('Sweet Corn and Asparagus',
    'Lemon Chicken',
    'Braised Bamboo Fungus');
    $meal = array('breakfast' => 'Walnut Bun',
    'lunch' => 'Cashew Nuts and White Mushrooms',
    'snack' => 'Dried Mulberries',
    'dinner' => 'Eggplant with Chili Sauce');
    sort($dinner);
    sort($meal);
    foreach ($dinner as $key => $value) {
    print "\$dinner: $key $value\n";
    }
    foreach ($meal as $key => $value) {
    print " \$meal: $key $value\n";
    }

This will print:

   $dinner: 0 Braised Bamboo Fungus
    $dinner: 1 Lemon Chicken
    $dinner: 2 Sweet Corn and Asparagus
    $meal: 0 Cashew Nuts and White Mushrooms
    $meal: 1 Dried Mulberries
    $meal: 2 Eggplant with Chili Sauce
    $meal: 3 Walnut Bun

can also sort arrays by key with ksort( ). This keeps key/value pairs together, but orders them by key.

Example:

    $meal = array('breakfast' => 'Walnut Bun',
    'lunch' => 'Cashew Nuts and White Mushrooms',
    'snack' => 'Dried Mulberries',
    'dinner' => 'Eggplant with Chili Sauce');
    ksort($meal);
    foreach ($meal as $key => $value) {
    print "\$meal: $key $value\n";
    }

This will print:

    $meal: breakfast Walnut Bun
    $meal: dinner Eggplant with Chili Sauce
    $meal: lunch Cashew Nuts and White Mushrooms
    $meal: snack Dried Mulberries

Using Multidimensional Arrays:

Use the array( ) construct to create arrays that have more arrays as element values.