PHP Associative Arrays

Associative arrays are arrays that use named keys that you assign to them.

$car = array("brand"=>"Ford", "model"=>"Mustang", "year"=>1964);
var_dump($car);

Access Associative Arrays

To access an array item you can refer to the key name.

Display the model of the car:

$car = array("brand"=>"Ford", "model"=>"Mustang", "year"=>1964);
echo $car["model"];

To change the value of an array item, use the key name:

Change the year item:

$car = array("brand"=>"Ford", "model"=>"Mustang", "year"=>1964);
$car["year"] = 2024;
var_dump($car);

To loop through and print all the values of an associative array, you could use a foreach loop, like this:

Display all array items, keys and values:

$car = array("brand"=>"Ford", "model"=>"Mustang", "year"=>1964);

foreach ($car as $x => $y) {
  echo "$x: $y <br>";
}

For a complete reference of all array functions, go to our complete PHP Array Reference.