How can I force PHP to use strings for array keys?

In PHP, array keys are typically automatically cast to integers if they are numeric, and to strings if they are not. However, you can use the "array" function to force all keys to be treated as strings, like this:

<?php

$array = array("first" => "value1", 2 => "value2");
$new_array = array("first", "second");
$new_array = array_combine($new_array, $array);

print_r($new_array);

This will convert the keys of the array to strings, even if they are originally integers.

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Another way to ensure that all keys are treated as strings is to use the json_encode() function and then json_decode with assoc option set to true.

<?php

$array = array("first" => "value1", 2 => "value2");
$json = json_encode($array);
$new_array = json_decode($json, true);

print_r($new_array);

Please note that json_encode will convert non-string keys to strings as well.