Using PHP array_unshift to Insert Elements at the Beginning of an Array

PHP is a widely used server‑side scripting language for creating dynamic web pages, and arrays are a fundamental data structure for storing collections of values.

The built‑in function array_unshift inserts one or more elements at the beginning of an array and returns the new number of elements. Its syntax is:

array_unshift(array $array, mixed $value1 [, mixed $value2 ...])

In the first example, an array of fruits is defined, the function is used to prepend the string “grape”, and the before/after states are printed, showing “grape” now at index 0.

<?php
$fruits = array("apple", "orange", "banana");
echo "Before array_unshift: ";
print_r($fruits);

array_unshift($fruits, "grape");
echo "After array_unshift: ";
print_r($fruits);
?>

The output confirms the element was added at the start of the array.

A second example demonstrates inserting multiple values (1 and 2) into a numeric array, again showing the updated order after the call.

<?php
$numbers = array(3, 4, 5);
echo "Before array_unshift: ";
print_r($numbers);

array_unshift($numbers, 1, 2);
echo "After array_unshift: ";
print_r($numbers);
?>

Both examples illustrate that array_unshift provides a convenient way to prepend elements without manually re‑indexing the array, making it useful in real‑world PHP projects.