How do you access the elements of an Array?

How do you ‘access’ the elements of an array?

Answer:

Technique 1 - A simple for loop

This technique can be used only for arrays that are zero based, i.e. where you haven’t specified a value for the key. If you have specified keys for your array, then you'll need to use either Technique 2 or Technique 3.

<?php
$busy_period = array('May', 'June', 'July');

//display the individual elements of the array
for($i = 0; $i < sizeof($busy_period); $i++)
  {
  echo '<br />' . $busy_period[$i];
  }

//Remove the array from memory
unset($busy_period);
?>

Output

May
June
July

Technique 2 - A simple foreach loop

This technique uses the special foreach loop which cycles through each element of the array. This is the most common technique for cycling through elements of an array because the foreach loop works with any kind of index values.

<?php
$busy_period = array(5 => 'May', 6 => 'June', 7 => 'July');

//display the individual elements of the array
foreach($busy_period as $key => $value)
  {
  echo '<br />Key Value: ' . $key . ' element value: ' . $value;
  }

//Remove the array from memory
unset($busy_period);
?>

Output

Key Value: 5 element value: May
Key Value: 6 element value: June
Key Value: 7 element value: July

Technique 3 - A for loop with key, current and next array functions

This technique shows how to use a standard for loop on an array that is not zero indexed based. It uses the key, current and next functions to retrieve the key, current array element value and move the pointer to the next element in the array.

<?php
$busy_period = array(5 => 'May', 6 => 'June', 7 => 'July');

//display the individual elements of the array
for($i = 0; $i < sizeof($busy_period); $i++)
  {
  $month_number = key($busy_period);        //get the key value (e.g. 5)
  $month_name   = current($busy_period);    //get the element value (e.g. ‘May’)

  echo '<br />Key Value: ' . $month_number . ' element value: ' . $month_name;
  next($busy_period);			    //move to the next array element.
  }

//Remove the array from memory
unset($busy_period);
?>

Output

Key Value: 5 element value: May
Key Value: 6 element value: June
Key Value: 7 element value: July

PHP Reference Manual

array - Creates an array variable

current - The value of the current element in the array

foreach - Loop through each element of an array

key - The key of the current element in the array

next - Increments pointer to next element in the array

sizeof - Find the number of elements in an Array

unset - Deletes a variable

Arrays

Adding Elements to an Array
Learn the different techniques of adding elements to an array, and see how they can be used in PHP scripts

Adding Elements to an array with a keyed index
Learn how to add elements to an array that have a key index, or where you need to specify one.

Comments or questions relating to this article have been disabled. They will be back soon.