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Arrays are really usefull when you have to manipulate the same elements several times.

A new tag has been introduced with the version 1.92 :

#ARRAYkey1,value1,key2,value2… allows the creation of a variable length table (useful for constructing a table for a #SET and/or for use with a dynamic « IN » criterion )

Short but an exemple should be helpfull..

Here is an exemple extracted from the plugin SpipBB

#SET{modos,#ARRAY}
#SET{
modos,
#GET{modos}
|array_merge{#ARRAY{#COMPTEUR_BOUCLE,#ID_AUTEUR}}
}
#SET{
modos,
#GET{modos}
|array_merge{#ARRAY{#COMPTEUR_BOUCLE,#_aut_admin:ID_AUTEUR}}
}

1. An empty table is created
   
2. #ARRAY#COMPTEUR_BOUCLE,#ID_AUTEUR creates an array containing the author’s id at an index that isn’t used yet.
   The standard PHP function array_merge() finally does it’s job : this value is now stored on the last index of the array ’modos’.
   
3. Another loop completes this array with the other authors of articles that are in the same section.
   

Note that the PHP function is used as a filter : it’s possible because it’s first argument is the array to manipulate.

Of course all this can be done with PHP code inside the template. The advantage of using the tag #ARRAY is that your template is better managed by the cache.