Array Functions
PHP Manual

array_merge_recursive

Merge one or more arrays recursively

Description

array array_merge_recursive(array ...$arrays)

array_merge_recursive merges the elements of one or more arrays together so that the values of one are appended to the end of the previous one. It returns the resulting array.

If the input arrays have the same string keys, then the values for these keys are merged together into an array, and this is done recursively, so that if one of the values is an array itself, the function will merge it with a corresponding entry in another array too. If, however, the arrays have the same numeric key, the later value will not overwrite the original value, but will be appended.

Parameters

arrays

Variable list of arrays to recursively merge.

Return Values

An array of values resulted from merging the arguments together. If called without any arguments, returns an empty array.

Changelog

Version Description
7.4.0 This function can now be called without any parameter. Formerly, at least one parameter has been required.

Examples

Example #1 array_merge_recursive 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 above example will output:

Array
(
    [color] => Array
        (
            [favorite] => Array
                (
                    [0] => red
                    [1] => green
                )

            [0] => blue
        )

    [0] => 5
    [1] => 10
)

See Also

  • array_merge
  • array_replace_recursive