php array insert and print - php

Question

This is a part of my PHP program.
//for example: $rec_count = 30
$totalpages=(int)$rec_count/10;
$index=0;
$pageslink[$totalpages]='';
while($index <= $totalpages ){
$pageslink['index']=$index;
echo '<br>Index: '.$index.'<br>';
echo '<br>Page '.$pageslink['index'].' ';
$index++;
}
print_r($pageslink);
It comes out like this:
Index: 0
Page 0
Index: 1
Page 1
Index: 2
Page 2
Index: 3
Page 3 Array ( [3] => [index] => 3 )
Its supposed to be pageslink[0] = 1; pageslink[1 ]= 2; pageslink[3] = 3; But When I print_r() the pageslink array , only 3 as a value. I've been trying to find out why only 3 is inserted as value in array.
I am a beginner, so thank you in advance for your help. It will be much appreciated.

Answer 1

In the short version of this answer, arrays in PHP start counting from 0, not 1. So on the first loop it would be 0 and the second loop it would be 1 and so on.

Answer 2

You're using
$pageslink['index'] = $index;
Meaning you set the item with the named key 'index' in your array to the value of your variable $index, instead of using $index as your key.
In PHP (and many other languages) you can refer to an item in an array with its index number (0, 1, 2, etc.) or by a word (named key).
For example:
$myArray = ['John', 'London'];
echo $myArray[0]; // John
echo $myAray[1]; // London
or
$myArray = ['name' => 'John', 'city' => 'london'];
echo $myArray['name']; // John
echo $myArray['city']; // London
What you are doing now is setting the same item in your array (the item you're calling index) to a new value every loop, overwriting its old value. So after all the loops you'll only have the last value saved.
You want something like this:
$pageslink[$index] = $index + 1;
Which will translate to:
$pageslink[0] = 1; // first loop
$pageslink[1] = 2; // second loop
$pageslink[2] = 3; // third loop
By the way, a for loop would be cleaner in your example code:
$rec_count = 30
$totalpages=(int)$rec_count/10;
$pageslink = array(); // this is how to create an array, not with ''
for($i=0;i<$totalpages;$i++){
$pageslink[] = $i;
}
print_r($pageslink);

Answer 3

You over complicate the code here, try:
$totalpages=(int)$rec_count/10;
$index=0;
$pageslink = array();
while($index <= $totalpages ){
$pageslink[]=$index+1;
echo '<br>Index: '.$index.'<br>';
echo '<br>Page '.$pageslink[$index].' ';
$index++;
}
print_r($pageslink);
But this code is very weird. You just create array of n elements.
Could you explain what do you try to achieve here?