PHP arrays -- square brackets vs curly braces ($array[$i] vs $array{$i})

Question

As i recently learned $myArray[$index] in PHP is equivalent to $myArray{$index}.

This mentioned on PHP docs. Also i found small discussion here: PHP curly braces in array notation.

PHP-FIG does not contains any recommendations about which way is preferable.

So, my question is -- it's just a matter of taste or may be some objective reasons to use one or the other syntax?

@PeeHaa actually i always use this syntax, but i faced with piece of code where used second syntax (mixed with first). and i was confused a little — oakymax, Jul 16 '16 at 20:48
Is there any reason why you would use a syntax, I've personally never seen before anywhere? — Charlotte Dunois, Jul 16 '16 at 20:48
@CharlotteDunois it is not my code, i just faced with this and was wondered if here is any real difference — oakymax, Jul 16 '16 at 20:53

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 16 '16 at 20:50

"Square bracket notation" for array elements would be more unified and acceptable.
"Curly bracket notation" will work in expressions but not in variable interpolation when dealing with accessing of an array element.
Consider the following example:

$myArray = [1,2];
$index = 1;

echo "value at index $index is $myArray[$index]"; // outputs "value at index 1 is 2"

echo "value at index $index is $myArray{$index}"; // will throw "Notice: Array to string conversion"

var_dump($myArray{$index});   // outputs "int(2)"

PHP arrays -- square brackets vs curly braces ($array[$i] vs $array{$i})

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