Taking user input and inserting it into an associative array using PHP - php

Question

I need to put user input into an associative array. The program asks the user how many people are in their group. Then it asks each person's name along with their order. It then proceeds to print out the group member's names along with their orders. My idea was to use a for loop to add each data set into the array. I think I have it all figured out except how to put the data into the array. Here is my code so far:
<?php
$people=readline("How many orders?");
$orders=[];
for($i=0; $i<$people; $i++)
{
print("Order ");
print($i);
print(" name: ");
$name=readline();
print("Order ");
print($i);
print(" order: ");
$food=readline();
}
print("Total order:\n");
foreach($orders as $names=>$orders)
{
print($names);
print(": ");
print($orders);
print("\n");
}
?>

Answer 1

PHP has some of the best documentation of any programming language, so I would advise taking a peak at the array intro, which will show you exactly what you need to know.
As a tip, because you're going to be keeping track of multiple datums per order (name, food), and you will want to be able to associate these with each other later, you will be adding arrays to your $orders array. For example:
$orders[$i] = [$name, $food];
This can be accessed later using numeric indexing:
$orders[$i][0] // value of $name for order $i
$orders[$i][1] // value of $food for order $i
But, in this case, I would actually advise taking the next step and using associative arrays instead:
$orders[$i] = ['name' => $name, 'food' => $food]
This makes access much easier to remember and read:
$orders[$i]['name'] // value of $name for order $i
$orders[$i]['food'] // value of $food for order $i