What does $k => $v in foreach($ex as $k=>$v) mean? [duplicate]

4
votes

Possible Duplicates:
What does “=>” mean in PHP?

What does $k => $v mean?

3
phpforeach
php.net/manual/en/control-structures.foreach.php – regilero
"im not a php expert" That's why the manual exists... – BoltClock♦
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(related) Reference - What does this symbol mean in PHP? – Gordon
Exact duplicate: What does “=>” mean in PHP? – SilentGhost

3 Answers

17
votes

It means that for every key-value pair in the traversable variable $ex, the key gets assigned to $k and value to $v. In other words: 

$ex = array("1" => "one","2" => "two", "3" => "three");
foreach($ex as $k=>$v) {
   echo "$k : $v \n";
}

outputs:

1 : one
2 : two
3 : three
5
votes

$k is the index number where the $v value is stored in an array. $k can be the associative index of an array:

$array['name'] = 'shakti';
$array['age'] = '24';

foreach ($array as $k=>$v)
{
    $k points to the 'name' on first iteration and in the second iteration it points to age.
    $v points to 'shakti' on first iteration and in the second iteration it will be 24.
}
4
votes

You're looping over an array. Arrays have keys (numbers, or could be strings when you have an associative array) and values that 'belong' to those keys.

Your $k is the key, the $v is the value, and you're looping trough each separate pair with a foreach.