Question

Im trying to make a multidimensional array with two columns. Name and Counter. I can do a single array with all the names. But I dont know how to make it multidimensional and be able to still update the counters. Code i got so far is

if (!in_array($prodname, $da)){
    array_push($da, $prodname);
}

and then I can dump it back out with a foreach. How do I make it two dimensional? How can I say alright this exists update the old value? etc.

Answer 1

If you only need name and counter then you should just be able to use a normal array:

$nameCountArray = array();
foreach($names as $name){
    if(!array_key_exists($name,$nameCountArray)){
        $nameCountArray[$name] = 1;
    }else{
        $nameCountArray[$name] = $nameCountArray[$name] + 1;
    }
}

If you do need multidimensional arrays these are just arrays of arrays and can be accessed as such. A good example of this is using a 2d array to store locations (say on a 3 by 3 grid):

$twoDArray = array(
                  0 => array(0 => 1,
                             1 => 4,
                             2 => 7), 
                  1 => array(0 => 2,
                             1 => 5,
                             2 => 8), 
                  2 => array(0 => 3,
                             1 => 6,
                             2 => 9)
              );

//Grab the item at 1,2
$item = $twoDArray[1][2];//Will give '8'