PHP curly braces in array notation

Question

I\'d just come across a very weird bit of php code:

$oink{\'pig\'} = 1;
var_dump($oink);

$oink{\'pig\'} = \'123123\';
echo $oink{\'pig\'}; /* => 123123 *         


        

Answer 1

According to this comment on the documentation, it is just another notation, probably designed to resemble the Perl syntax: http://www.php.net/manual/de/language.types.array.php#99015

Update: When this answer was originally posted, the PHP manual did not have any official information on this notation. By 2014, however, the comment referenced above had been removed and, as Pacerier's answer says, the notation has been given official mention in the manual.