|In the previous tutorial, you learned that an array is a
variable that stores several values or elements of data
organized by index keys.| An associative array also uses index
keys but these keys are not numeric as in the example above. The
keys in an associative array are "named" keys which means that
the keys are usually character strings. In the example below,
you can see that the keys are words (title, name, organization)
that have a meaning for the matching values (Professor, Mike
Smith, Ohio State University). The example above also
demonstrates that you use the array function to create or
initialize an associative array. The name of the array variable
($members) is followed by an equal sign and then the function
name (array). Next you have the key-value pairs. Notice that
these pairs are separated by commas. The key is "matched" to its
value with the => and the whole group is enclosed in
parenthesis. Last you have the semicolon. An associative array
works much the same as a regular array.