pretty please (A) +REP

[myke]

Hey guys,


This will be my third try at learning PHP.

This page stumps me a bit:
http://w3schools.com/php/php_arrays.asp

Could you please explain it in terms that are understandable? :S

Thanks

[Calon]

$names = array("Peter","Quagmire","Joe"); 

This sorts Peter, Quagmire and Joe into variable/arrays.

so $names[0] has the value of "Peter"
then.. $names[1] has the value of "Quagmire"
then.. $names[2] has the value of "Joe"

[myke]

Ah, ok, wut about assertive or w.e?

Also, this http://w3schools.com/php/php_looping.asp confuses me a tiny bit, don't they do the same??

[Calon]

Ah, ok, wut about assertive or w.e?

Also, this http://w3schools.com/php/php_looping.asp confuses me a tiny bit, don't they do the same??

Looping is "while()" so you'd use that to loop code, such as getting things from a database.

// other page code, including connecting to your database.
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `table`");

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($query)) { 
echo "This ". $row["name"] ." That.. ";
} 

So "name" is a row within your database, and using while will list every row in the table.

[myke]

Ok, that sorta confused me :S

This is going to be a long time...

[Calon]

while() loops code, but you don't really need to loop code often.

[Decode]

Ok, that sorta confused me :S

This is going to be a long time...

An eaysier to understand exapmle

while ( $value < 10 ) {
      echo $value; //echos numbers
      $value++; //adds 1 to the number
} 

That would display

123456789

[Protege]

Ok, that sorta confused me :S

This is going to be a long time...

Arrays, sexual - I'll explain them how I get them

Think of an array as a single table of data, say a few names like the first post was

Peter
Quagmire
Joe

Put them into a array, separated by commas

$names = array( 'Peter', 'Quagmire', 'Joe' ); 

By default, unless set, to access 'Peter' would be accessible via

$names[ 0 ]; 

Or instead of that, you could set them yourself

$names[ 514 ] = 'Peter';
$names[ 415 ] = 'Quagmire';
$names[ 666 ] = 'Joe'; 

You could access 'Peter' via

$names[ 514 ]; 

You don't have to use numbers as ID keys, for example, you could have the name 'Peter' as a key and have a value behind it

EG:

$names = array( 'Peter' => 'Fat' ); 

or

$names[ 'Peter' ] = 'Fat'; 

Multidimensional Arrays are fun too

Say, you have different surnames, and behind each surname you got people

$surnames = array( 
'Smith' => array( 'Mark', 'John', 'Sally' ),
'Barker' => array( 'Joe', 'Dylan', 'Josh' )
); 

Look, you have two surnames in the array 'Smith' and 'Barker', behind each are the names of the people with that surname.

Lets access 'Smith'

$surnames[ 'Smith' ][ 0 ]; 

Now, that will return 'Mark', for John

$surnames[ 'Smith' ][ 1 ]; 

Same with 'Barker'

$surnames[ 'Barker' ][ 2 ]; 

Will return 'Josh'

Now, you wanted to see how the foreach worked, for example

Just read it as I put it

$array = array( 'Kill', 'People', 'Who', 'Do', 'Not', 'Understand', 'This' );
foreach( $array as $value )
{
 echo( $value . '<br />' );
} 

Say, for each $value in $array

So its going to get each value from $array and echo it

the result will be

Kill
People
Who
Do
Not
Understand
This

[Calon]

Arrays, sexual - I'll explain them how I get them

Think of an array as a single table of data, say a few names like the first post was

Peter
Quagmire
Joe

Put them into a array, separated by commas

$names = array( 'Peter', 'Quagmire', 'Joe' ); 

By default, unless set, to access 'Peter' would be accessible via

$names[ 0 ]; 

Or instead of that, you could set them yourself

$names[ 514 ] = 'Peter';
$names[ 415 ] = 'Quagmire';
$names[ 666 ] = 'Joe'; 

You could access 'Peter' via

$names[ 514 ]; 

You don't have to use numbers as ID keys, for example, you could have the name 'Peter' as a key and have a value behind it

EG:

$names = array( 'Peter' => 'Fat' ); 

or

$names[ 'Peter' ] = 'Fat'; 

Multidimensional Arrays are fun too

Say, you have different surnames, and behind each surname you got people

$surnames = array( 
'Smith' => array( 'Mark', 'John', 'Sally' ),
'Barker' => array( 'Joe', 'Dylan', 'Josh' )
); 

Look, you have two surnames in the array 'Smith' and 'Barker', behind each are the names of the people with that surname.

Lets access 'Smith'

$surnames[ 'Smith' ][ 0 ]; 

Now, that will return 'Mark', for John

$surnames[ 'Smith' ][ 1 ]; 

Same with 'Barker'

$surnames[ 'Barker' ][ 2 ]; 

Will return 'Josh'

Now, you wanted to see how the foreach worked, for example

Just read it as I put it

$array = array( 'Kill', 'People', 'Who', 'Do', 'Not', 'Understand', 'This' );
foreach( $array as $value )
{
 echo( $value . '<br />' );
} 

Say, for each $value in $array

So its going to get each value from $array and echo it

the result will be

Post stuck (Forum Moderator) - keep up the unsexual work

[Excellent1]

Arrays are handy but you don't always need them.
You could use something as simple as:

$name1 = "Bob";
$name2 = "Marley";
echo (' $name1 '); 

But stick to arrays as it will be the most professional way of doing things.