What is the purpose of the ‘map’ function in PHP?

In PHP, a map typically refers to an associative array, which is a data structure that allows keys and values to be associated. The purpose of a map is to quickly search for values corresponding to keys, similar to a dictionary or hash table. In PHP, associative arrays can be implemented using array indexes or by using special functions provided by PHP. Maps make it easy to store and access key-value pairs, making them suitable for scenarios that require storing and retrieving key-value pairs.