Arrays
PHPArrays store multiple values in a single variable. They are one of the most used data structures in PHP — especially when working with database results in Laravel.
Indexed Arrays
PHP
<?php
$fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"];
echo $fruits[0]; // apple
echo $fruits[1]; // banana
echo $fruits[2]; // cherry
// Add item
$fruits[] = "date";
// or
array_push($fruits, "elderberry");
echo count($fruits); // 5
?>Associative Arrays
Key-value pairs — like a dictionary or JSON object:
PHP
<?php
$user = [
"name" => "John Doe",
"email" => "john@example.com",
"age" => 25,
"city" => "Tokyo"
];
echo $user["name"]; // John Doe
echo $user["email"]; // john@example.com
// Add / update
$user["phone"] = "090-1234-5678";
$user["age"] = 26;
// Remove
unset($user["city"]);
?>Multidimensional Arrays
PHP
<?php
$users = [
["name" => "John", "age" => 25],
["name" => "Jane", "age" => 28],
["name" => "Suraj", "age" => 30],
];
// Access nested data
echo $users[0]["name"]; // John
echo $users[2]["age"]; // 30
// Loop through
foreach ($users as $user) {
echo $user["name"] . ": " . $user["age"] . "\n";
}
?>Useful Array Functions
PHP
<?php
$numbers = [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6];
// Sort
sort($numbers); // [1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9]
rsort($numbers); // reverse sort
// Search
in_array(5, $numbers); // true
array_search(5, $numbers); // returns index
// Slice & Splice
array_slice($numbers, 0, 3); // first 3 items
array_splice($numbers, 2, 1); // remove 1 item at index 2
// Map, Filter, Reduce
$doubled = array_map(fn($n) => $n * 2, $numbers);
$evens = array_filter($numbers, fn($n) => $n % 2 === 0);
$sum = array_reduce($numbers, fn($carry, $n) => $carry + $n, 0);
// Merge
$a = [1, 2, 3];
$b = [4, 5, 6];
$merged = array_merge($a, $b); // [1,2,3,4,5,6]
?>💡
In Laravel, Eloquent returns Collections — which are supercharged arrays with methods like
->filter(), ->map(), ->where(), ->pluck() and many more.Test your knowledge!
Take the PHP Basics quiz.