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~1 min readArrays
PHP has one collection type — array — that does double duty as a list AND a hash table:
$nums = [10, 20, 30]; // numeric (list)
$ages = ["Alice" => 30, "Bob" => 25]; // associative (map)
Under the hood, both are ordered hash tables. Numeric arrays just use 0, 1, 2 as keys.
$nums[] = 40; // append
echo count($nums); // 4
echo $nums[0]; // 10
unset($nums[0]); // remove (leaves a sparse array — index 0 gone)
$ages["Carol"] = 40;
unset($ages["Bob"]);
Iterate with foreach:
foreach ($ages as $name => $age) {
echo "$name: $age\n";
}
Iteration order = insertion order. Array functions: count, array_keys, array_values, in_array, array_search, sort, asort, array_merge, array_combine — too many to list.
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