Print result is different in the array function - php

Question

I have a problem with the array PHP function, below is my first sample code:
$country = array(
"Holland" => "David",
"England" => "Holly"
);
print_r ($country);
This is the result Array ( [Holland] => David [England] => Holly )
I want to ask, is possible to make the array data become variables? For second example like below the sample code, I want to store the data in the variable $data the put inside the array.:
$data = '"Holland" => "David","England" => "Holly"';
$country = array($data);
print_r ($country);
But this result is shown me like this: Array ( [0] => "Holland" => "David","England" => "Holly" )
May I know these two conditions why the results are not the same? Actually, I want the two conditions can get the same results, which is Array ( [Holland] => David [England] => Holly ).
Hope someone can guide me on how to solve this problem. Thanks.

Answer 1

You can use the following Code.
<?php
$country = array(
"Holland" => "David",
"England" => "Holly"
);
foreach ($country as $index => $value)
{
$$index = $value;
}
?>
Now, Holland & England are two variables. You can use them using $Holland etc.
A syntax such as $$variable is called Variable Variable. Actually The inner $ resolves the a variable to a string, and the outer one resolves a variable by that string.

Answer 2

So there is this thing called
Destructuring
You can do it something like ["Holland" => $eolland, "England" => $england] = $country;
And now you have your array elements inside the variables.
Go read the article above if you want more information about this because it gets really useful (especially in unit tests usind data provders from my experience).

Answer 3

If you want to extract elements from an associative array such that the keys become variable names and values become the value of that variable you can use extract
extract($country);
To check what changed you can do
print_r(get_defined_vars());
Explanation on why the below does not work
$data = '"Holland" => "David","England" => "Holly"';
When you enclose the above in single quotes ' php would recognise it as a string. And php will parse a string as a string and not as an array.
Do note it is not enough to create a string with the same syntax as the code and expect php to parse it as code. The codes will work if you do this
$data = ["Holland" => "David","England" => "Holly"];
However, now $data itself is an array.
A simple copy of an array can be made by using
$data = $country;