How to create an empty array in PHP with predefined size?

I am creating a new array in a for loop.

for $i < $number_of_items
    $data[$i] = $some_data;

PHP keeps complaining about the offset since for each iteration I add a new index for the array, which is kind of stupid.

Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in include() (line 23 of /...
Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in include() (line 23 of /..
Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in include() (line 23 of /..

Is there some way to predefine the number items in the array so that PHP will not show this notice?

In other words, can I predefine the size of the array in a similar way to this?

$myarray = array($size_of_the_earray);