Question

while($assocArray = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
    for ($j = 0; $j < $length; $j++)
    {
        $column = $fields[$j];                      // + works
        echo "$assocArray[$column]          ";      // +
        //echo "$assocArray[ $fields[$j] ]      ";  // - doesn't work, should be same
    }

echo "<br/>";
}

A similar problem was reported for numeric arrays, which supposedly was solved. I’m using a very new build of PHP (5.3.6) so it must be a separate bug. Generates parse error.

Answer 1

Surround the whole expression with curly braces:

echo "{$assocArray[ $fields[$j] ]}      ";

FYI: This is partially a matter of taste, but personally, I prefer not inlining arrays, especially with nested arrays. Isn’t this nicer?

echo $assocArray[ $fields[$j] ] . "      ";