How to use string indexes in c++ arrays (like php)?

You could use std::map to get an associative container in which you can lookup values by a string index. A map like std::map<std::string, int> would associate integer values with std::string lookup keys.

They're called associative arrays (or dictionaries) and the allow you to use any type you want as a key, instead of just integers. They're natively supported in PHP, in C++ you should probably use std::map unless you're in .net, which has its own dictionary class

The closest thing is probably a std::map.

Check out the wikipedia page for details.