Add 2 values to 1 key in a PHP array

Question

I have a result set of data that I want to write to an array in php. Here is my sample data:

**Name** **Abbrev**
Mike     M
Tom      T
Jim      J

Answer 1

PHP's not my top language, but try these:

array_push($values, array("Mike", "M"))
array_push($values, array("Tom", "T"))
array_push($values, array("Jim", "J"))

$name1 = $values[1][0]
$abbrev1 = $values[1][1]

or:

array_push($values, array("name" => "Mike", "abbrev" => "M"))
array_push($values, array("name" => "Tom", "abbrev" => "T"))
array_push($values, array("name" => "Jim", "abbrev" => "J"))

$name1 = $values[1]["name"]
$abbrev1 = $values[1]["abbrev"]

The trick is to use a nested array to pair the names and abbreviations in each entry.

Answer 2

maybe you create a simple class for that as the abbreviation is redundant information in your case

class Person
{
    public $name;

    pulbic function __construct($name)
    {
        $this->name = (string)$name;
    }

    public function getAbbrev()
    {
        return substr($this->name, 0, 1);
    }

    public function __get($prop)
    {
        if ($prop == 'abbrev') {

            return $this->getAbbrev();
        }
    }
}


$persons = array(
    new Person('Mike'),
    new Person('Tom'),
    new Person('Jim')
);

foreach ($persons as $person) {

   echo "$person->name ($person->abbrev.)<br/>";
}

Answer 3

$person = array('name' => 'Mike', 'initial' => 'M');
array_push($people, $person);

That said, I'm not sure why you're storing the data separately. The initial can be fetched directly from the name via substr($name, 0, 1).

Answer 4

have to set the same value to both Mike and M for keys.

Answer 5

php arrays work like hash lookup tables, so in order to achieve the desired result, you can initialize 2 keys, one with the actual value and the other one with a reference pointing to the first. For instance you could do:

$a = array('m' => 'value');
$a['mike'] = &$a['m']; //notice the end to pass by reference

if you try:

$a = array('m' => 'value');
$a['mike'] = &$a['m'];

print_r($a);

$a['m'] = 'new_value';
print_r($a);

$a['mike'] = 'new_value_2';
print_r($a);

the output will be:

Array
(
    [m] => value
    [mike] => value
)
Array
(
    [m] => new_value
    [mike] => new_value
)
Array
(
    [m] => new_value_2
    [mike] => new_value_2
)

Answer 6

You could use two separate arrays, maybe like:

$values_names = array();
$values_initials = array();
array_push($values_names, 'Mike');
array_push($values_initials, 'M');
array_push($values_names, 'Tom');
array_push($values_initials, 'T');
array_push($values_names, 'Jim');
array_push($values_initials, 'J');

So you use two arrays, one for each of the second and third columns using the values in the first one as keys for both arrays.