In PHP, a multidimensional array is an array in which each element can also be an array, thereby creating a grid-like structure. To create and initialise a multidimensional array in PHP, you can simply specify the values within square brackets in the following format:
$array = array(
array(value1, value2, value3),
array(value4, value5, value6),
array(value7, value8, value9)
);
Here's an example that illustrates how to create a 3 x 4 multidimensional array that contains random numbers:
// create a 3 x 4 array and initialise random numbers
$array = array(
array(rand(1,10), rand(1,10), rand(1,10), rand(1,10)),
array(rand(1,10), rand(1,10), rand(1,10), rand(1,10)),
array(rand(1,10), rand(1,10), rand(1,10), rand(1,10))
);
// print the array
print_r($array);
This will output:
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[0] => 10
[1] => 5
[2] => 3
[3] => 8
)
[1] => Array
(
[0] => 8
[1] => 4
[2] => 2
[3] => 7
)
[2] => Array
(
[0] => 9
[1] => 10
[2] => 2
[3] => 5
)
)
As you can see, the multidimensional array contains three arrays, each of which have four randomly generated integer values ranging from 1 to 10.