Mastering PHP’s array_merge: Combine Arrays Like a Pro

PHP offers the array_merge() function to combine one or more arrays into a new array, returning the merged result. The syntax is straightforward: array_merge(array $array1 [, array $...]) : array.

Example 1: Merging two arrays

$array1 = array('apple', 'banana', 'orange');
$array2 = array('kiwi', 'melon', 'grape');
$result = array_merge($array1, $array2);
print_r($result);

The output shows all six elements from both arrays in order:

Array
(
    [0] => apple
    [1] => banana
    [2] => orange
    [3] => kiwi
    [4] => melon
    [5] => grape
)

Example 2: Merging multiple arrays

$array1 = array('apple', 'banana', 'orange');
$array2 = array('kiwi', 'melon', 'grape');
$array3 = array('strawberry', 'pineapple');
$result = array_merge($array1, $array2, $array3);
print_r($result);

The resulting array contains all elements from the three source arrays:

Array
(
    [0] => apple
    [1] => banana
    [2] => orange
    [3] => kiwi
    [4] => melon
    [5] => grape
    [6] => strawberry
    [7] => pineapple
)

Example 3: Merging associative arrays

$array1 = array('name' => 'John', 'age' => 25);
$array2 = array('name' => 'Jane', 'email' => '[email protected]');
$result = array_merge($array1, $array2);
print_r($result);

When keys overlap, the later array's value overwrites the earlier one, so the merged array contains the name "Jane" while preserving the other keys:

Array
(
    [name] => Jane
    [age] => 25
    [email] => [email protected]
)

Conclusion

The array_merge() function is a concise and efficient way to combine both indexed and associative arrays in PHP, making data manipulation more flexible and convenient for backend development tasks.