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PHP Build a Simple PHP Application Integrating with PayPal Forms, Arrays, and Get Variables

Posted by Jason Glass
Jason Glass
6,456 Points

Help me understand this process..

For some reason this is like looking at a math problem that is over my head..

<?php
$flavors = array("Cake Batter","Cookie Dough");
foreach ($flavors as $a => $b) {
    echo $a;
}
?>

..naturally I can run the code and see the outcome is "01", but why "01"?

2 Answers

Jayden Spring
Jayden Spring
8,625 Points
Jayden Spring
Jayden Spring
8,625 Points

Simply think of it as this:

foreach($array as $key => $value)
{
....code...
}

You are iterating through each element in the array ($flavours) and saying that $a is the variable for the key and $b is the variable for the value. However given your array this would not work as you are using a simple array not an associative one (key value pairs).

For you're array you simply need

foreach($flavours as $flavour)
{
  echo $flavour
}

If you had an array

$flavours =  array(
   1 => 'Caramel',
   2 => 'Strawberry'
);

You could use the key value interation

Jason Glass
Jason Glass
6,456 Points

Well that was kind of part of my confusion.. This was copied from a multi-choice code challenge.

Jayden Spring
Jayden Spring
8,625 Points
Jayden Spring
Jayden Spring
8,625 Points

Best way to understand it is if you use the => in the foreach you are going to be retrieving two values, a key and value. Even if you have a key value pair array (associative array) if you just did $array as $item it would just return the item. If you have a look at PHP's manual here (http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php) it explains it all pretty well

William Li
PLUS
William Li
Courses Plus Student 26,868 Points
William Li
William Li
Courses Plus Student 26,868 Points

Hello, Jason Glass A very detailed explanation of this question has been provided at this post https://teamtreehouse.com/forum/help-me-understand-the-difference-between-the-following-codes-in-php, Please check it out.

Hope it helps, don't hesitate to ask if you have further question.