Associative array in PHP actually considered as a dictionary.
An array in PHP is actually an ordered map. A map is a type that associates values to keys. it can be treated as an array, list (vector), hash table (an implementation of a map), dictionary, collection, stack, queue, and probably more.
<?php
$array = array(
"foo" => "bar",
"bar" => "foo",
);
// Using the short array syntax
$array = [
"foo" => "bar",
"bar" => "foo",
];
?>
An array is different than a dictionary in that arrays have both an index and a key. Dictionaries only have keys and no index.