Urgent Array question

[gibigbig]

I would like to call upon an array variable from its key, say for example:

 

$array = array("value" => 1);

 

the code:

echo $array["value"]; 

 

will easily output "1"

 

however, i when i try this code:

 $array["1"];

or even:

 

 $array[0];

 

for the first instance in the array, all outputs are empty, why is this? and is there a solution?

[teynon]

That's because the key was set by you to something else. You could use foreach ($array as $key=>$value)

[Pikachu2000]

Because $array["1"] and $array[0] don't exist, according to the way you've defined the array, only $array["value"] does.

[.josh]

Associative arrays do have an order, but it is ordered internally...and I'm pretty sure internally they have numerical references...dunno why there is no native way to refer to it.  If you are just trying to loop through them, then use a foreach loop as already suggested.  But if you are wanting to target an individual one, like "show me the 3rd one in the list", you can make a function easy enough to simulate it:

 

$array = array(
  'a' => 'apple',
  'b' => 'banana',
  'c' => 'coconut'
);

function getValueByNumber($array,$pos) {
  if ( ($pos < 0) || ($pos > (count($array)-1)) ) return false;
  $c = 0;
  reset($array);
  while ($c < $pos) {
    next($array);
    $c++;
  }
  return current($array);	
}

// following the convention that numeric indexes start at 0...
echo getValueByNumber($array,2); // output: coconut 

[Psycho]

Rather than looping through each element, it may be more efficient to just start with the one you are looking for:

function getValueByNumber($array,$pos) {
  if ( ($pos < 0) || ($pos > (count($array)-1)) ) return false;
  return current(array_slice($array, $pos, 1));
}