Manipulating arrays in PHP: The Essential Guide!

An array is a data structure that stores a collection of elements, usually of the same type, in a single variable. These elements can be numbers, strings, objects, or even other arrays. Arrays allow you to store and access multiple values ​​in an ordered manner, using indexes.

Creating an Array:
You can create arrays using the array() function or the short array syntax [].

<?php

// Using array() function
$fruits1 = array("Apple", "Banana", "Orange");

var_dump($fruits1);

// Using short array syntax
$fruits2 = ["Apple", "Banana", "Orange"];

var_dump($fruits2);

Accessing Array Elements:
You can access array elements by referring to their index.

<?php

$fruits = ["Apple", "Banana", "Orange"];

echo $fruits[0]; // Outputs: Apple

Adding Elements to an Array: Use array_push() or simply assign a value to a new index to add elements to an array.

<?php

$fruits = ["Apple", "Banana", "Orange"];

// Adding using array_push()
array_push($fruits, "Grapes");

// Adding using array index
$fruits[] = "Mango";

var_dump($fruits);

Removing Elements from an Array: You can remove elements from an array using unset() or array functions like array_pop() and array_shift().

<?php 

$fruits = ["Apple", "Banana", "Orange"];

// Remove last element
array_pop($fruits);

// Remove first element
array_shift($fruits);

// Remove element by index
unset($fruits[1]); // Removes Banana

var_dump($fruits);

Iterating Over an Array: Loop through an array using foreach().

<?php

$fruits = ["Apple", "Banana", "Orange"];

foreach ($fruits as $fruit) {
    echo $fruit;
}

Merging Arrays: Combine arrays using array_merge().

<?php 

$fruits = ["Apple", "Banana", "Orange"];

$moreFruits = ["Pineapple", "Watermelon"];

$allFruits = array_merge($fruits, $moreFruits);

var_dump($allFruits);

Sorting Arrays: You can sort arrays with functions like sort(), rsort(), asort(), ksort(), etc.

<?php 

$fruits = ["Apple", "Banana", "Orange"];

sort($fruits); // Sort in ascending order

var_dump($fruits);

You can run the code at https://onecompiler.com/php