Question

I have a set of values that I’m pushing into an array in the order they occur

$valsArray = array(); 

//I process each value from a file (code removed for simplicity) 
//and then add into the array 
$valsArray[] = $val; 

How do I turn this into an associative array instead where the value gets inserted (as $key of associative array) only if it doesn’t exist. If it does exist increment its count ($value of associative array) by 1. I’m trying to find a more efficient way of handling those values compared to what I’m doing now.

Answer 1

As you loop thru your values you can do the following:

isset( $valsArray[$val] ) ? $valsArray[$val]++ : $valsArray[$val]=1;

example:

$valsArray=array();

$val="foo";
isset($valsArray[$val])?$valsArray[$val]++:$valsArray[$val]=1;
$val="foo";
isset($valsArray[$val])?$valsArray[$val]++:$valsArray[$val]=1;
$val="bar";
isset($valsArray[$val])?$valsArray[$val]++:$valsArray[$val]=1;

print_r($valsArray);

will get you:

Array ( [foo] => 2 [bar] => 1 )