What is the use of array merge function in php?

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

array_merge — Merge one or more arrays

Description

array_merge(array ...$arrays): array

If the input arrays have the same string keys, then the later value for that key will overwrite the previous one. If, however, the arrays contain numeric keys, the later value will not overwrite the original value, but will be appended.

Values in the input arrays with numeric keys will be renumbered with incrementing keys starting from zero in the result array.

Parameters

Variable list of arrays to merge.

Return Values

Returns the resulting array. If called without any arguments, returns an empty array.

Changelog

Examples

Example #1 array_merge() example

$array1 = array("color" => "red", 2, 4);
$array2 = array("a", "b", "color" => "green", "shape" => "trapezoid", 4);
$result = array_merge($array1, $array2);
print_r($result);
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [color] => green
    [0] => 2
    [1] => 4
    [2] => a
    [3] => b
    [shape] => trapezoid
    [4] => 4
)

Example #2 Simple array_merge() example

$array1 = array();
$array2 = array(1 => "data");
$result = array_merge($array1, $array2);
?>

Don't forget that numeric keys will be renumbered!

If you want to append array elements from the second array to the first array while not overwriting the elements from the first array and not re-indexing, use the + array union operator:

$array1 = array(0 => 'zero_a', 2 => 'two_a', 3 => 'three_a');
$array2 = array(1 => 'one_b', 3 => 'three_b', 4 => 'four_b');
$result = $array1 + $array2;
var_dump($result);
?>

The keys from the first array will be preserved. If an array key exists in both arrays, then the element from the first array will be used and the matching key's element from the second array will be ignored.

array(5) {
  [0]=>
  string(6) "zero_a"
  [2]=>
  string(5) "two_a"
  [3]=>
  string(7) "three_a"
  [1]=>
  string(5) "one_b"
  [4]=>
  string(6) "four_b"
}

Example #3 array_merge() with non-array types

$beginning = 'foo';
$end = array(1 => 'bar');
$result = array_merge((array)$beginning, (array)$end);
print_r($result);
?>

The above example will output:

    Array
    (
        [0] => foo
        [1] => bar
    )

See Also

• array_merge_recursive() - Merge one or more arrays recursively
• array_replace() - Replaces elements from passed arrays into the first array
• array_combine() - Creates an array by using one array for keys and another for its values
• array operators

Julian Egelstaff ¶

13 years ago

In some situations, the union operator ( + ) might be more useful to you than array_merge.  The array_merge function does not preserve numeric key values.  If you need to preserve the numeric keys, then using + will do that.

ie:

$array1

ChrisM ¶

9 months ago

I wished to point out that while other comments state that the spread operator should be faster than array_merge, I have actually found the opposite to be true for normal arrays. This is the case in both PHP 7.4 as well as PHP 8.0. The difference should be negligible for most applications, but I wanted to point this out for accuracy.

Below is the code used to test, along with the results:

$before = microtime(true);

for (

Andreas Hofmann ¶

10 months ago

In addition to the text and Julian Egelstaffs comment regarding to keep the keys preserved with the + operator:
When they say "input arrays with numeric keys will be renumbered" they MEAN it. If you think you are smart and put your numbered keys into strings, this won't help. Strings which contain an integer will also be renumbered! I fell into this trap while merging two arrays with book ISBNs as keys. So let's have this example:

    $test1['24'] = 'Mary';
    $test1['17'] = 'John';$test2['67'] = 'Phil';
    $test2['33'] = 'Brandon';$result1 = array_merge($test1, $test2);
    var_dump($result1);$result2 = [...$test1, ...$test2];    // mentioned by fsb
    var_dump($result2);
?>

You will get both:

array(4) {
  [0]=>
  string(4) "Mary"
  [1]=>
  string(4) "John"
  [2]=>
  string(4) "Phil"
  [3]=>
  string(7) "Brandon"
}

Use the + operator or array_replace, this will preserve - somewhat - the keys:

    $result1 = array_replace($test1, $test2);
    var_dump($result1);$result2 = $test1 + $test2;
    var_dump($result2);
?>

You will get both:

array(4) {
  [24]=>
  string(4) "Mary"
  [17]=>
  string(4) "John"
  [67]=>
  string(4) "Phil"
  [33]=>
  string(7) "Brandon"
}

The keys will keep the same, the order will keep the same, but with a little caveat: The keys will be converted to integers.

JoshE ¶

6 months ago

Not to contradict ChrisM's test, but I ran their code example and I got very different results for PHP 8.0.

Testing PHP 8.0.14
1.4955070018768 sec for spread
4.4120140075684 sec for array_merge