How to create an empty array in PHP with predefined size?

I am creating a new array in a for loop.

for $i < $number_of_items
    $data[$i] = $some_data;

PHP keeps complaining about the offset since for each iteration I add a new index for the array, which is kind of stupid.

Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in include() (line 23 of /...
Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in include() (line 23 of /..
Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in include() (line 23 of /..

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Is there some way to predefine the number items in the array so that PHP will not show this notice?

In other words, can I predefine the size of the array in a similar way to this?

$myarray = array($size_of_the_earray);

Answer

There is no way to create an array of a predefined size without also supplying values for the elements of that array.

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The best way to initialize an array like that is array_fill. By far preferable over the various loop-and-insert solutions.

$my_array = array_fill(0, $size_of_the_array, $some_data);

Every position in the $my_array will contain $some_data.

The first zero in array_fill just indicates the index from where the array needs to be filled with the value.