note 120006 added to function.array-merge-recursive

I ran into a fairly unique situation where array_merge_recursive ALMOST did what I wanted, but NOT QUITE. I read through all of the comments, and I didn't find anything that really helped me. I saw a lot of functions submitted that were just trying to recreate array_replace_recursive. This is not that. Take a look at the code and try it out. Hopefully it helps someone in need! class Arr { /** * Merge multiple arrays. * * This is similar to, but slightly different than array_merge_recursive. * The main difference is that it will merge like keys in subarrays, * instead of simply pushing them into the output array. * * @param array ...$array * * @return array */ public static function merge() { /** Initialize the output array */ $merged = []; /** Go through each argument */ foreach (func_get_args() as $array) { /** Go through each key/value of this array */ foreach ($array as $key => $value) { /** * If this key isn't set on merged, * then it needs to be set for the first time */ if (! isset($merged[$key])) { /** * Before we can set it, we must make sure * to dive into this value if it is an array, * so that all of its children will be processed. */ if (is_array($value)) { $value = static::merge($value); } /** * Now that we're happy with this value, * and we're sure that, if it is an array, * all of its children have been processed, * let's go ahead and set it. */ $merged[$key] = $value; /** We can skip the rest of the loop */ continue; } /** * We're here because we want to set a key * that is already set on merged. We don't want * to overwrite anything - we want to add to it. * So, we need to make sure that we're working with an array. */ if (! is_array($merged[$key])) { $merged[$key] = [$merged[$key]]; } /** * Before we push the value onto the array, * we need to check to see if it is an array itself. * If it is, then we need to make sure all of its children * are processed. We do this by merging all of the children * together. This is where it differs from array_merge_recursive, * which would simply push the children onto the end of the array. */ if (is_array($value)) { $value = forward_static_call_array([Arr::class, 'merge'], $value); } /** Now we're ready to push the value into merged */ $merged[$key][] = $value; } } /** Return the merged array */ return $merged; } } ---- Server IP: 72.52.91.14 Probable Submitter: 2606:a000:49d5:fc00:d28:12cd:d26d:6e6 ---- Manual Page -- http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-merge-recursive.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/120006 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/120006/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/120006/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/120006/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/120006/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/120006/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/120006/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/120006 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/120006 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php