PHP Multidimensional Arrays
A multidimensional array is an array containing one or more arrays.
In a multidimensional array, each element in the main array can also be an array, and each element in the sub-array can also be an array.
A value in an array can be another array, and a value in that array can also be an array. In this way, we can create two-dimensional or three-dimensional arrays.
Syntax for a two-dimensional array:
array (
array (elements...),
array (elements...),
...
)
The elements of the above array will be automatically assigned keys starting from 0
:
Example
<?php
// Two-dimensional array:
$cars = array
(
array("Volvo",100,96),
array("BMW",60,59),
array("Toyota",110,100)
);
?>
In the following example, we create a two-dimensional array with specified keys (associative array):
Example
<?php
$sites = array
(
"tutorialpro" => array
(
"tutorialpro.org",
"http://www.tutorialpro.org"
),
"google" => array
(
"Google Search",
"http://www.google.com"
),
"taobao" => array
(
"Taobao",
"http://www.taobao.com"
)
);
print("<pre>"); // Format the array output
print_r($sites);
print("</pre>");
?>
The above array will output as follows:
Let's try to display a specific value from the above array:
echo $sites['tutorialpro'][0] . ' address is: ' . $sites['tutorialpro'][1];
The above code will output:
Three-dimensional Array
A three-dimensional array is a two-dimensional array with an additional layer of arrays, formatted as follows:
array (
array (
array (elements...),
array (elements...),
...
),
array (
array (elements...),
array (elements...),
...
),
...
)
Example
<?php
// Create a three-dimensional array
$myarray = array(
array(
array(1, 2),
array(3, 4),
),
array(
array(5, 6),
array(7, 8),
),
);
// Output array information
print_r($myarray);
?>
The above array will output as follows:
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[0] => 1
[1] => 2
)
[1] => Array
(
[0] => 3
[1] => 4
)
)
[1] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[0] => 5
[1] => 6
)
[1] => Array
(
[0] => 7
[1] => 8
)
)
)