Since arrays are a more complicated data type than strings or integers, printing them is slightly more challenging. Using echo
won’t have the desired result:
$number_array = [0, 1, 2]; echo $number_array; // Prints: Array
When we tried to use echo
to print $number_array
, it printed the word “Array” rather than the contents of the array. To print the contents of the array, we can use PHP built-in functions. The built-in print_r()
function outputs arrays in a human readable format:
print_r($number_array);
This will output the array in the following format:
Array ( [0] => 0 [1] => 1 [2] => 2 )
If we merely want to print the elements in the array listed, we can convert the array into a string using the built-in implode()
function. The implode()
function takes two arguments: a string to use between each element (the $glue
), and the array to be joined together (the $pieces
):
echo implode(", ", $number_array);
This will output in the following format:
0, 1, 2
Let’s practice printing arrays!
Instructions
We’ve created a couple arrays for you. Use the echo
and the implode()
function to print the $message
array using "!"
as the $glue
.
Use the print_r()
function to print the $favorite_nums
array.