PHP arrays permit extremely concise programming; for example if I have all my contacts in an array $contacts, I can write: $my_phone_no = $contacts['clancy']['phone']; However it is clear that there must be a lot going on behind the scenes to achieve this simple result, as it requires some sort of search procedure. Is it possible to give any indication of the overheads and memory costs that are involved in such a statement, and of how well the search procedure is implemented? Also what the relative virtues of defining the same set of fields for every contact, as against either defining only the fields which actually hold values, as in the following examples? a: $contacts['clancy']['home_address'] = 'jkjkjk'; $contacts['clancy']['home_phone'] = 0123 4567; $contacts['clancy'][' office_address''] = ''; $contacts['clancy']['office_phone'] = ''; $contacts['joe']['home_address'] = ''; $contacts['joe']['home_phone'] = ''; $contacts['joe']['office_address'] = 'jsfvkl'; $contacts['joe']['office_phone'] = 'jsfvkl'; b; $contacts['clancy']['home_phone'] = 0123 4567; $contacts['clancy']['home_address'] = 'jkjkjk'; $contacts['joe']['office_address'] = 'jsfvkl'; $contacts['joe']['office_phone'] = 'jsfvkl'; And is there any advantage in always assigning the keys in the same order? -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
