array_splice(): Remove a Portion of an Array and Replace It with Other Values

array_splice() is a PHP function that removes a portion of an array and optionally replaces it with other values.

Parameters:

input – the array to operate on.

offset – start position (positive from the beginning, negative from the end).

length – number of elements to remove (if omitted, removes to the end; positive removes that many; negative removes up to that many from the end). A useful tip: when providing a replacement and you want to remove everything from the offset to the end, use count($input) as the length.

replacement – an array of values that will be inserted in place of the removed segment.

If the offset/length combination would not remove any elements, the replacement array is inserted at the offset position; keys from the replacement are not preserved.

Return value: an array containing the removed elements.

Examples:

These examples illustrate removal, insertion, and replacement using array_splice() in typical backend PHP development scenarios.