Table of Content

What is an array? An array is a collection of data. You can create an array in many ways.

<?php
# Defining an array
$people = array("John", "Sara", "Mike");
$fruits = ["pineapples", "grapes", "oranges"];
echo $fruits[0];
# Result: pineapple

# Defining an associate array
$cars = ["name" => "Toyota", "wheels" => 4, "fast" => true];
echo $cars["name"];
# Result: Toyota

$computer["brand"] = "DELL";

array_chunk

Splits an array into groups or chunks of new arrays. Syntax: array_chunk(array, int) :array

  • array is the array you want to chunk.
  • int is the number of chunks to return.
<?php
$animals = ["tigers", "birds", "cats", "dogs", "fish", "bears", "cow", "sheep"];
$chunks = array_chunk($animals, 3);
var_dump($chunks);
/*
array(3) {
  [0]=>
  array(3) {
    [0]=>
    string(6) "tigers"
    [1]=>
    string(5) "birds"
    [2]=>
    string(4) "cats"
  }
  [1]=>
  array(3) {
    [0]=>
    string(4) "dogs"
    [1]=>
    string(4) "fish"
    [2]=>
    string(5) "bears"
  }
  [2]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(3) "cow"
    [1]=>
    string(5) "sheep"
  }
}
*/

array_combine

Creates an array from 2 arrays. The first array being the keys, while the second array are the values. Syntax: array_combine(array, array) :array

  • 1st param is the array that will be the new array indexes
  • 2nd param is the array that will be the new array values
<?php
$books = ["Peter Pan", "Moby Dick", "Oliver Twist"];
$pages = [20, 150, 12];
$combinedArray = array_combine($books, $pages);
print_r($combinedArray);
/*
Array
(
  [Peter Pan] => 20
  [Moby Dick] => 150
  [Oliver Twist] => 12
)
*/

array_count_values

Count the values of an array and returns an array with the value as the key and the count as the value Syntax: array_count_values(array) :array

<?php
$records = ["paper", "data", "cat", "paper", "dog", "data", "data"];
$countValues = array_count_values($records);
print_r($countValues);
/*
Array
(
  [paper] => 2
  [data] => 3
  [cat] => 1
  [dog] => 1
)
*/

array_diff

Compare 2 or more arrays and returns an array with the elements present in the 1st array that are not in the other arrays. Syntax: array_diff(array, array) :array

<?php
$companies = ["Walmart", "Apple", "Google", "Target"];
$techCompanies = ["Apple", "Google", "Samsung"];
$diff = array_diff($companies,$techCompanies);
print_r($diff);
// echo $diff[2] is not valid, because the key is not available

/*
Array
(
  [0] => Walmart
  [3] => Target
)
*/

array_map

Passes each element of an array through a custom function and returns an updated array of the values. Syntax: array_map(aFunction, array1, array2, array3) :array

<?php
$phones = ["Samsung", "Iphone", "LG", "Nokia"];
$updated = array_map(function ($phone) {
  return $phone . " 2.0";
}, $phones);
print_r($updated);
/*
Array
(
  [0] => Samsung2.0
  [1] => Iphone2.0
  [2] => LG2.0
  [3] => Nokia2.0
)
*/

array_filter

Works like array_map and loops through an array except array_filter removes elements that don’t satisfy the condition. Syntax: array_filter(array, aFunction) :array

<?php
$posts = ["title" => "This is a post", "date" => "25 July", "comments" => "25"];
$updatedPost = array_filter($posts, function($value){
  if($value == "25 July")
    return false;
    else
    return true;
});
print_r($updatedPost);
/*
Array
(
  [title] => This is a post
  [comments] => 25
)
*/

array_flip

Flips the array’s keys with its values. Syntax: array_flip(array) :array

<?php
$person = ["name" => "Sara", "age" => 28, "weight" => "135"];
print_r(array_flip($person));
/*
Array
(
  [Sara] => name
  [28] => age
  [135] => weight
)
*/

array_key_exists

Finds the key within the array. Syntax: array_key_exists(key, array) :bool

<?php
$house = ["price" => "$100M", "color" => "blue"];
if(array_key_exists("price", $house)) {
  echo "The house price is available!";
}
# The house price is available!

Search an entire array for a value and returns the key. Syntax: array_search(string, array) :string

<?php
$clothes = ["color" => "red", "sizes" => "M", "store" => "H&M", "sale" => true];
$key = array_search("H&M", $clothes);
echo $key;
// store

array_push

Add an element to an array. Syntax: array_push(array, element1, element2, elementNth) :array

 $tools = ["hammer"];
 array_push($tools, "chain", "screw driver");
 print_r($tools);
 /*
Array
(
  [0] => hammer
  [1] => chain
  [2] => srcew driver
)
*/