To define an associative array (hash) so that it is part of the namespace, instead of going into the global namespace, just declare it as const, istead of as a variable.
This is handy for lookup tables, config settings, etc.
// Example.  Instead of writing:
$my_datatypes = [
    "sterility" =>  [
      "xlsx" => [
        "Sample Type",
        "Run Pass/Fail",
        "Result"
       ],
      "db" => [
        "SampleType",
        "RunPassFail",
        "Result"
       ]
    ]
];
// ...declare the lookup table like this:
const MY_DATATYPES = [
    "sterility" =>  [
      "xlsx" => [
        "Sample Type",
        "Run Pass/Fail",
        "Result"
       ],
      "db" => [
        "SampleType",
        "RunPassFail",
        "Result"
       ]
    ]
];
// ...and it will be declared within the current namespace.