Create Main Array that includes multiple child array - php

Question

How Can I Create a main array that includes multiple child array And be in the form of Jason and I want to add the child Array to main array in the Loop
MainArray=[
array1=[{fname:asdada,lastname:sdsadasda}];
array2=[{fname:asdada,lastname:sdsadasda}];
array3=[{fname:asdada,lastname:sdsadasda}];
];
echo MainArray[1]->fname;
Please see the following pseudo code below:
pseudo code

Answer 1

You should really look into a basic php tutorial.
This is how you do it.
$mainArray = [
'array1' => ['fname' => 'asdada', 'lastname' => 'sdsadasda'],
'array2' => ['fname' => 'asdada', 'lastname' => 'sdsadasda'],
'array3' => ['fname' => 'asdada', 'lastname' => 'sdsadasda']
];
echo $mainArray['array1']['fname'];
Or use the long notation if you have an older version of php or want backwards compatibility.
$mainArray = array(
'array1' => array('fname' => 'foo', 'lastname' => 'bar'),
'array2' => array('fname' => 'lorem', 'lastname' => 'ipsum'),
'array3' => array('fname' => 'test', 'lastname' => 'example')
);
echo $mainArray['array1']['fname'];
Explanation:
The php variable sigil is $. This means that in order to access a variable or assign something to a variable, you use $mainArray. See more on variables in the documentation.
The php array can be used in two different notations. Either array(...) or, from php 5.4 upwards, [...]. Other than the opening and closing parts, they are identical. You don't use : or = to assign individual values inside an array declaration. For this you use the => operator. Each element in an array is separated by a comma (,).
E.g.
$mainArray = array(
'A' => 1,
'B' => 2
];
Arrays in Php can be either associative or numerical. What you probably want is that your outer array is numerical, meaning you can access it using $mainArray[1], and your inner array is associative. For numerical arrays, you don't specify a key yourself, so there is no need for the =>.
$mainArray = array(
array(),
array(),
array()
);
And with associative sub arrays this becomes:
$mainArray = array(
array('firstname' => 'foo', 'lastname' => 'bar'),
array('firstname' => 'test', 'lastname' => 'example'),
array('firstname' => 'lorem', 'lastname' => 'ipsum')
);
In order to access the firstname key of the first child array in this multilevel array structure, you do:
$mainArray[0]['firstname']
E.g. (if you want to echo it to the standard output)
echo $mainArray[0]['firstname'];
Please note that numerical arrays in php start counting on 0, as in most other programming languages. And please note that the key in the associative array is a string, and as such must be surrounded with either ' or ".
I can recommend you search for a php beginner's tutorial and try to write and execute the examples yourself, to get a better grasp of php. If you need somewhere to run your php examples, I can recommend you try an online php environment such as PHPFiddle.
Update on adding values:
You can add more key=>value pairs to an associative array or add more values to a numerical array afterwards in much the same way as you would access or assign to it.
First, let's add a value to a numerical array. You do this by adding [] to the end of your variable when assigning. This means that what you assign will be added as a new numerical value to the end of your array.
$numericalArray = array(
7,
8,
6,
12,
'B'
);
$numericalArray[] = 'C';
// Results in the array: array(7, 8, 6, 12, 'B', 'C')
And in order to add a new key => value pair to an associative array, you just add it using the new key, e.g.
$assoc = array(
'firstname' => 'Testy',
'lastname' => 'McTestface'
);
$assoc['middlename'] => 'Tester';
So to add a new fname-lastname pair to the mainArray, you would do:
$mainArray = array(
array('fname' => 'foo', 'lastname' => 'bar'),
array('fname' => 'test', 'lastname' => 'example'),
array('fname' => 'lorem', 'lastname' => 'ipsum')
);
$mainArray[] = array('fname' => 'new name', 'lastname' => 'new last name');
If you want to do this in a loop, you will use the for, foreach, while or do while structures.
E.g.
$mainArray = array(
array('fname' => 'foo', 'lastname' => 'bar'),
array('fname' => 'test', 'lastname' => 'example'),
array('fname' => 'lorem', 'lastname' => 'ipsum')
);
for ($i = 0; $i < 3; ++$i) {
$mainArray[] = array('fname' => 'new name ' . $i, 'lastname' => 'new last name ' . $i);
}
echo json_encode($mainArray, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT|JSON_UNESPACED_UNICODE|JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES), PHP_EOL;
// [
// {'fname': 'foo', 'lastname': 'bar'},
// {'fname': 'test', 'lastname': 'example'},
// {'fname': 'lorem', 'lastname': 'ipsum'},
// {'fname': 'new name 0', 'lastname': 'new last name 0'},
// {'fname': 'new name 1', 'lastname': 'new last name 1'},
// {'fname': 'new name 2', 'lastname': 'new last name 2'},
// ]