That is called bracket notation. $row is an array, which has properties. In this case, it has named properties, so it is an associative array. An associate array has key/value pairs. It looks like this:
$myArray = [
  'key' => 'value'
];
To echo the value of the property above, you would use echo $myArray['key'];
In the specific code you included, the property name is “COLUMN_NAME” and it has a value. The code assigns that value to the variable $col_name.
Here’s another sample usage to help clarify all of this:
$people = [
  'Susan' => [
    'Age' => 24,
    'Phone' => '555-123-4567'
  ],
  'Jack' => [
    'Age' => 27,
    'Phone' => '555-9876-5432'
  ]
];
echo $people['Jack']['Age']; // 27
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solved $row[‘column’] in PHP