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PHP PHP Arrays and Control Structures PHP Arrays Multidimensional Arrays

Posted by Vasily Belolapotkov
Vasily Belolapotkov
1,739 Points

The solution should work but it doesn't

My solution fires the error of unexpected ", IMO it should work though.

echo "<li> $contacts[ 0 ][ 'name' ]:  $contacts[ 0 ][ 'email' ] </li>\n";
echo "<li> $contacts[ 1 ][ 'name' ]: $contacts[ 1 ][ 'email' ] </li>\n";
echo "<li> $contacts[ 2 ][ 'name' ]: $contacts[ 2 ][ 'email' ] </li>\n";
echo "<li> $contacts[ 3 ][ 'name' ]: $contacts[ 3 ][ 'email' ] </li>\n";

Here is the error message:

Bummer: PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '' (T_ENCAPSED_AND_WHITESPACE), expecting identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE) or number (T_NUM_STRING)
index.php 
<?php
//edit this array
$contacts = array(
  array( 'name' => 'Alena Holligan', 'email' => 'alena.holligan@teamtreehouse.com' ),
  array( 'name' => 'Dave McFarland', 'email' => 'dave.mcfarland@teamtreehouse.com' ),
  array( 'name' => 'Treasure Porth', 'email' => 'treasure.porth@teamtreehouse.com' ),
  array( 'name' => 'Andrew Chalkley', 'email' => 'andrew.chalkley@teamtreehouse.com' ),
);

echo "<ul>\n";
//$contacts[0] will return 'Alena Holligan' in our simple array of names.
echo "<li> $contacts[ 0 ][ 'name' ]:  $contacts[ 0 ][ 'email' ] </li>\n";
echo "<li> $contacts[ 1 ][ 'name' ]: $contacts[ 1 ][ 'email' ] </li>\n";
echo "<li> $contacts[ 2 ][ 'name' ]: $contacts[ 2 ][ 'email' ] </li>\n";
echo "<li> $contacts[ 3 ][ 'name' ]: $contacts[ 3 ][ 'email' ] </li>\n";
echo "</ul>\n";

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,261 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,261 Points

There are some syntax issues and differences between the original and new outputs:

  • there is extra whitespace around the indexes and keys
  • complex array variables and key(s) should be enclosed in {}'s
  • there is extra whitespace before the name and after the email
  • there should be a space between the name and the colon
<?php
// ...
echo "<li>{$contacts[0]['name']} : {$contacts[0]['email']}</li>\n";
echo "<li>{$contacts[1]['name']} : {$contacts[1]['email']}</li>\n";
echo "<li>{$contacts[2]['name']} : {$contacts[2]['email']}</li>\n";
echo "<li>{$contacts[3]['name']} : {$contacts[3]['email']}</li>\n";

This could also be done without the {}'s using concatenation.

Vasily Belolapotkov
Vasily Belolapotkov
1,739 Points

Hey, Steven Parker! Thank you! I didn't know about curly braces trick.

This could also be done without the {}'s using concatenation.

I tried, but the answer wasn't accepted :-)

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,261 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,261 Points

You may have had another issue, I'm sure most folks use concatenation to solve this challenge.