Title	:	Perl Associative Arrays
	Author	:	SS
	Class	:	NavMar
	Content	:



<P>
	<B>What is an associative array?</B>
<P>

<UL>

	<LI>Associative Arrays add the final degree of complexity
	     allowing ordered lists to be associated with other values.
	     Unlike <A HREF="perl_list_arrays.html">list arrays</A>,
		 associative arrays have index values
	     that are not numbers. You do not reference an
	     associative array as $associative_array_name[0] as you
	     did for the list array. Instead, associative arrays are
	     indexed with arbitrary <A HREF="perl_scalars.html">scalar variables</A>.
		 Consider the
	     following associative array definition: 
	
<P>

<PRE>
%CLIENT_ARRAY = ('full_name', 'Selena Sol',
                 'phone', '213-456-7890', 
                 'age', '27'); 
</PRE>

<P>

	<LI>In this example, we have defined the associative array
	     %CLIENT_ARRAY to have three sets of associations. 

</UL>

<P>
<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER = "1" WIDTH = "300" CELLPADDING = "5">
<TR>
	<TD BGCOLOR = "#CCCCCC">The percent sign (%) denotes the associative
	     array name just as the dollar sign ($) did for
	     variables and the at sign (@) did for list arrays.</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
	</CENTER>
<P>
<UL>

	<LI>Thus, "full_name" is associated with "Selena Sol" as "age"
	     is associated with "27". This association is discussed in
	     terms of "keys" and "values". Each key is associated with
	     one value. Thus, we say that the key "full_name" is
	     associated with the value "Selena Sol". 
	
</UL>
<P>
	<H3>Additional Resources:</H3>
	<UL>
	<LI><A HREF="/Authoring/Languages/Perl/">Perl </A>
	<LI><A HREF="/Authoring/Languages/Perl/Resources.html">Perl Resources </A>
	</UL>

<P>
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