array

[eluser]NateL[/eluser]
I think what you want is something like

Code:

$item = array();
$item['author'] = "Doug Larson";
$item['quote'] = "Life expectancy...";

now, do a var_dump on $item, and you should get:

Code:

Array
(
  [author] = "Doug Larson"
  [quote]  = "Life expectancy..."
)