Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

PHP PHP Arrays and Control Structures PHP Arrays Multidimensional Arrays

Daniel Breen
Daniel Breen
14,943 Points

Stuck again :(

Array to string conversion array it happens no matter how I echo

// with single quotes on inner key
echo "<li>$contacts[0]['name'] : $contacts[0]['email']</li>\n";

// without single quotes on inner key
echo "<li>$contacts[1][name] : $contacts[1][email]</li>\n";

// desperation
print_r "<li>$contacts[2]['name'] : $contacts[2]['email']</li>\n";
index.php
<?php
// In the code below, we have a simple array of contact names. 
// We want to use the $contacts array to fill in the hardcoded list of names an email addresses.
// To hold the email as well as the name for each contact, we need a multidimensional array,
// meaning each person in the contact list will have their own array. The first step is to make each person
// their own single item ASSOCIATIVE array, using 'name' as the key for these internal arrays.

//edit this array
//$contacts = array('Alena Holligan', 'Dave McFarland', 'Treasure Porth', 'Andrew Chalkley');

$contacts[] = [
  'name' => 'Alena Holligan',
  'email' => 'alena.holligan@teamtreehouse.com'
];

$contacts[] = [
  'name' => 'Dave McFarland',
  'email' => 'dave.mcfarland@teamtreehouse.com'
];

$contacts[] = [
  'name' => 'Treasure Porth',
  'email' => 'treasure.porth@teamtreehouse.com'
];

$contacts[] = [
  'name' => 'Andrew Chalkley',
  'email' => 'andrew.chalkley@teamtreehouse.com'
];

echo "<ul>\n";
// $contacts[0] will return 'Alena Holligan' in our simple array of names.
echo "<li>$contacts[0][name] : $contacts[0][email]</li>\n";
echo "<li>$contacts[1][name] : $contacts[1][email]</li>\n";
echo "<li>$contacts[2][name] : $contacts[2][email]</li>\n";
echo "<li>$contacts[3][name] : $contacts[3][email]</li>\n";
echo "</ul>\n";

1 Answer

Ken Stone
Ken Stone
29,703 Points
$contacts[] = array(
  'name' => 'Alena Holligan',
  'email' => 'alena.holligan@teamtreehouse.com'
);

$contacts[] = array(
  'name' => 'Dave McFarland',
  'email' => 'dave.mcfarland@teamtreehouse.com'
);

$contacts[] = array(
  'name' => 'Treasure Porth',
  'email' => 'treasure.porth@teamtreehouse.com'
);

$contacts[] = array(
  'name' => 'Andrew Chalkley',
  'email' => 'andrew.chalkley@teamtreehouse.com'
);

/*********
echo "<ul>\n";
foreach($contacts as $contact){
  echo "<li>" . $contact['name'] . ":" .  $contact['email']. "</li>\n";
}
echo "</ul>\n";
**********/

echo "<ul>\n";
echo "<li>" . $contacts[0]['name'] . " : " . $contacts[0]['email'] . "</li>\n";
echo "<li>" . $contacts[1]['name'] . " : " . $contacts[1]['email'] . "</li>\n";
echo "<li>" . $contacts[2]['name'] . " : " . $contacts[2]['email'] . "</li>\n";
echo "<li>" . $contacts[3]['name'] . " : " . $contacts[3]['email'] . "</li>\n";
echo "</ul>\n";
Daniel Breen
Daniel Breen
14,943 Points

Interesting. So double-quotes only pulls out simple variables, but has a hard time with the arrays indices/keys?

Daniel Breen
Daniel Breen
14,943 Points

Yup. Looks like that's the case: double-quotes don't interpret the indices/keys. That error message makes more sense now.

Also found the slightly cleaner solution:

// ...
echo "<li>{$contacts[0]['name']} : {$contacts[0]['email']}</li>\n";
echo "<li>{$contacts[1]['name']} : {$contacts[1]['email']}</li>\n";
echo "<li>{$contacts[2]['name']} : {$contacts[2]['email']}</li>\n";
echo "<li>{$contacts[3]['name']} : {$contacts[3]['email']}</li>\n";