Merging arrays with keys that share the same number of items - php

Question

I have a basic function that takes two arrays and merges them based on key. It is meant to work with arrays that have different keys but ultimately the same number of items. The function works well. However, it only inputs two arrays at a time to merge.
How can I modify so it takes n number of arrays to merge?
PHP
protected function arrayMergeKeys( $a, $b )
{
$retArr = array();
// I used min(countA, countB) so there will be no errors on
// unbalanced array item counts.
for ( $i = 0; $i < min( count( $a ), count( $b ) ); $i++ ) {
$retArr[ $i ] = array_merge( $a[ $i ], $b[ $i ] );
} // for end
return $retArr;
}
Desired result is to call the function with three arrays: $merged_arrays = arrayMergeKeys($a, $b, $c);
Input
//$a
Array
(
[a] => 'new value'
[b] => 2
[c] => 3
)
//$b
Array
(
[1] => 'blah'
[2] => 'dud'
[3] => 697
)
//$c
Array
(
[pet] => 'dog'
[breed] => 'german shepher'
[age] => 100
)
Output
Array
{
[a] => 'new value'
[1] => 'blah'
[pet] => 'dog'
}
Array
{
[b] => 2
[2] => 'dud'
[breed] => 'german shepher'
}
Array
{
[c] => 3
[3] => 697
[age] => 100
}

Answer 1

Leaving your original function untouched you could do it like this:
function arrayMulitMergeKeys() {
$arrayArgs = func_get_args();
$c = count($arrayArgs);
$result = arrayArgs[0];
for($i = 1; $i < $c; $i++) {
$result = arrayMergeKeys($result, $arrayArgs[$i]);
}
return $result;
}

Answer 2

This can be optimized further please re-check it once again
function arrayMergeKeys()
{
$retArr = array();
$arrayArgs = func_get_args();
//print_r($arrayArgs);
$minCount = count($arrayArgs[0]);
foreach($arrayArgs as $array){
if($minCount > count($array)){
$minCount = count($array);
}
}
// I used min(countA, countB) so there will be no errors on
// unbalanced array item counts.
for ( $i = 0; $i < $minCount; $i++ ) {
foreach($arrayArgs as $array){
$iCount = count($array);
for($j=0; $j<=$iCount; $j++)
{
if($i==$j){
$arrayKeys = array_keys($array);
if(isset($arrayKeys[$i])){
$retArr[ $i ][$arrayKeys[$i]] = $array[$arrayKeys[$i]];
break;
}
}
}
}
} // for end
return $retArr;
}
$a = Array
(
'a' => 'new value',
'b' => 2,
'c' => 3
);
$b = array
(
'1' => 'blah',
'2' => 'dud',
'3' => 697
);
$c = array
(
'pet' => 'dog',
'breed' => 'german shepher',
'age' => 100
);
print_r(arrayMergeKeys($a, $b, $c));

Answer 3

Here's some pseudo code to point you in the right direction.
function mergeArrays(a, b, c)
arrays = []
shortestLength = min(a.len, b.len, c.len)
for i in [0 .. shortestLength - 1]
arrays[i] = [ a[i], b[i], c[i] ];
return arrays
If you're doing this as an exercise, I would suggest implementing the following also:
mergeArrays(arr) where arr is an array of arrays that need to be merged.

Answer 4

Haven't tested, but this should work
protected function arrayMergeKeys(...$arrs) {
$retArr = array();
// I used min(countA, countB) so there will be no errors on
// unbalanced array item counts.
$countArr = array();
foreach ($arrs as $arr) {
$countArr[] = count($arr);
}
$min = min($countArr);
for ( $i = 0; $i < $min; $i++ ) {
$mergeArr = array();
foreach ($arrs as $arr) {
$mergeArr[] = $arr[$i];
}
$retArr[ $i ] = array_merge( $mergeArr );
} // for end
return $retArr;
}

Answer 5

You can simply 'add' the arrays:
$a = array
(
'a' => 'new value',
'b' => '2',
'c' => '3'
);
//$b
$b = array
(
'1' => 'blah',
'2' => 'dud',
'3' => '697'
);
//$c
$c = array
(
'pet' => 'dog',
'breed' => 'german shepher',
'age' => 100
);
$result= $a+$b+$c;
print_r($result);
output
Array ( [a] => new value [b] => 2 [c] => 3 [1] => blah [2] => dud [3] => 697 [pet] => dog [breed] => german shepher [age] => 100 )