How to Access the Elements of a Multidimensional Array in PHP

In this article, we show how to access any individual element or any elements of a multidimensional array in PHP.

A multidimensional array is an array that contains arrays.

So let's say we have created the following multidimensional array below composed of people: their name, email, city, and state. The second block of PHP shows how to access all of the data in the array.

<?php //we create this array $people= array( array("name" => "Jennifer Kimbers", "email" => "abc@gmail.com", "city" => "Seattle", "state" => "Washington"), array("name" => "Rodney Hutchers", email" => "def@gmail.com", "city" => "Los Angeles", "state" => "California"), array("name" => "Robert Smith",email" => "ghi@gmail.com", "city" => "Michigan", "state" => "Missouri") ); //Accessing the Elements of the Array //First person echo $people[0]["name"] . "<br>"; //Jennifer Kimbers echo $people[0]["email"] . "<br>"; //abc@gmail.com echo $people[0]["city"] . "<br>"; //Seattle echo $people[0]["state"]. "<br><br>"; //Washington //Second person echo $people[1]["name"] . "<br>"; //Rodney Hutchers echo $people[1]["email"] . "<br>"; //def@gmail.com echo $people[1]["city"] . "<br>"; //Los Angeles echo $people[1]["state"]. "<br><br>"; //California //Third person echo $people[2]["name"] . "<br>"; //Robert Smith echo $people[2]["email"] . "<br>"; //ghi@gmail.com echo $people[2]["city"] . "<br>"; //Michigan echo $people[2]["state"]. "<br><br>"; //Missouri ?>

So we've created a multidimensional array composed of individual people, holding their name, email, city and state.

We then access every individual element in the array. We do this using the array name, $people followed by the row number, followed by the name of the column we want to access (name, email, city, or state).

This is how the individual element of a multidimensional array are accessed.

Running the above PHP code, we get the following output below.

Actual PHP Output

Jennifer Kimbers
abc@gmail.com
Seattle
Washington

Rodney Hutchers
def@gmail.com
Los Angeles
California

Robert Smith
ghi@gmail.com
Michigan
Missouri

So this is how the elements of a multidimensional array can be accessed that has key-value pairs.

We will show now below to access the elements of multidimensional array that does not have key-value pairs.

Accessing the Elements of a Multidimensional Array Without Key-Value Pairs

So now we show how to access the elements of a multidimensinal array that does not have key-value pairs.

The PHP code below creates the array and outputs the elements of the array.

<?php //we create this array $people= array( array("Jennifer Kimbers", "abc@gmail.com","Seattle", "Washington"), array("Rodney Hutchers", "def@gmail.com","Los Angeles", "California"), array("Robert Smith","ghi@gmail.com","Michigan", "Missouri") ); //Accessing the Elements of the Array //First person echo $people[0][0] . "<br>"; //Jennifer Kimbers echo $people[0][1] . "<br>"; //abc@gmail.com echo $people[0][2] . "<br>"; //Seattle echo $people[0][3]. "<br><br>"; //Washington //Second person echo $people[1][0] . "<br>"; //Rodney Hutchers echo $people[1][1] . "<br>"; //def@gmail.com echo $people[1][2] . "<br>"; //Los Angeles echo $people[1][3]. "<br><br>"; //California //Third person echo $people[2][0] . "<br>"; //Robert Smith echo $people[2][1] . "<br>"; //ghi@gmail.com echo $people[2][2] . "<br>"; //Michigan echo $people[2][3]. "<br><br>"; //Missouri ?>

So this is how a multidimensional can be accessed that does not have key-value pairs.

We use the name of the array $people, followed by the row number, followed by the column number.

So $people[0][0] corresponds to the first row of the first column. Since arrays start at 0, 0 begins the array. This corresponds to the name, Jennifer Kimbers.

You can see the difference of accessing multidimensional arrays with key-value pairs and those without. Usually those with key-value pairs are preferred because the column can be referenced by name instead of by number. But a programmer may have his or her preference.

Running the PHP code above, we get the following output shown below.

Actual PHP Output

Jennifer Kimbers
abc@gmail.com
Seattle
Washington

Rodney Hutchers
def@gmail.com
Los Angeles
California

Robert Smith
ghi@gmail.com
Michigan
Missouri

And this is all that is required to access elements of a multidimensional array.

Related Resources

How to Loop Through a Multidimensional Array in PHP