PHP allows you to associate name/label with each array elements using => symbol. It is also called key-value pair array.
Creating PHP Associative Array
array() function is used to create associative array.
There are two ways to create an associative array as shown below.
$age = array("John"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Neil"=>"43");
//OR
$age['John'] = "35";
$age['Ben'] = "37";
$age['Neil'] = "43";Associative arrays are used to store key value pairs.
Accessing the PHP Associative Array elements
<?php
$age = array("John"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Neil"=>"43");
echo "Peter is " . $age['Peter'] . " years old.";
?>Traversing PHP Associative Array
We can traverse associative arrays using foreach loop.
Example
<?php
/* Creating an associative array */
$age = array("Anil"=>25, "Jay"=>29,
"Neil"=>36, "Smith"=>33,
"Ritik"=>18);
/* Looping through an array using foreach */
echo "Looping using foreach: <br>";
foreach ($age as $person => $age_num){
echo $person." is ".$age_num." years old.<br>";
}
?>