Difference between array_push() and $array[] =

When you call a function in PHP (such as array_push()), there are overheads to the call, as PHP has to look up the function reference, find its position in memory and execute whatever code it defines.

Using $arr[] = 'some value'; does not require a function call, and implements the addition straight into the data structure. Thus, when adding a lot of data it is a lot quicker and resource-efficient to use $arr[].

You can add more than 1 element in one shot to array using array_push,

e.g. array_push($array_name, $element1, $element2,...)

Where $element1, $element2,... are elements to be added to array.

But if you want to add only one element at one time, then other method (i.e. using $array_name[]) should be preferred.

The difference is in the line below to "because in that way there is no overhead of calling a function."

array_push() will raise a warning if the first argument is not an array. This differs from the $var[] behaviour where a new array is created.