array_merge_recursive

Hello! I'm fairly new to PHP and absolutely new to this mailing list. I subscribed and I'm writing because I observed some strange behavior with array_merge_recursive(). I'm using PHP version 4.1.2. Please look at the following code: $a = array('k' => array('a1')); $b = array('k' => array('b1')); $r = array_merge_recursive($a, $b); echo count($a['k']), '<br>'; echo count($b['k']), '<br>'; This will print 2 1 Apparently $a['k'] has been merged with $b['k'] and $a['k'] has been set to the resulting two-element array. I did not expect this behavior: I expected the function to make a new array, which contains both 'a1' and 'b1'. Only $r['k'] should refer to this new array. Otherwise, in my opinion, array_merge_recursive should not return a value, just modify the first argument. Should I file a bug report about this? Thank you, Michiel van Wessem Network Administrator