PHP array_merge_recursive() – Recursively Merges One or More Arrays

The PHP function array_merge_recursive() merges one or more arrays recursively, appending values from later arrays to earlier ones and combining values with identical string keys into sub‑arrays.

Parameters array1 – the initial array to merge. ... – additional arrays to be merged recursively.

Return value

An array containing the merged values.

Example

<?php
$ar1 = array("color" => array("favorite" => "red"), 5);
$ar2 = array(10, "color" => array("favorite" => "green", "blue"));
$result = array_merge_recursive($ar1, $ar2);
print_r($result);
?>

The output shows that the color key now holds an array with both favorite values (“red” and “green”) and the additional blue entry, while numeric values are appended.