Hash/array compare and merge - php

Question

I have two data sets.
First:
{
"status": "OK",
"message": "Data Show Successful",
"name0": "Al",
"city": "",
"pree": "R",
"allknife": [
{
"name": "Folder",
"pos": "G",
"pos_le": "",
},
{
"name": "Folder Two",
"pos": "G",
"pos_le": "",
}
]
}
Second:
{
"status": "OK",
"message": "Data Show Successful",
"name0": "",
"city": "",
"pree": "R",
"allknife": [
{
"name": "Folder",
"pos": "",
"pos_le": "R",
},
{
"name": "Folder Two",
"pos": "G",
"pos_le": "",
}
]
}
Now I compare the second data set with the first data set. If any item is empty in the second data set, then I want it to be pulled from first data set.
For instance, in the second hash name0 is empty so the value should be replaced using the value from the first hash. Also the allknife array should use the same logic.
I cant understand how implement it. I am trying with array_merge(), to no avail.

Answer 1

There are a lot of things that might be optimized but I leave it to you!
// Just a simple example
function arfill($example, $input){
foreach($input as $key => $value){
if($value == ""){
// Easy peasy set it
$input[$key] = $example[$key];
}
if(is_array($value)){
// Little recursion here
$input[$key] = arfill($example[$key], $input[$key]);
}
}
return $input;
}

Answer 2

Since you want to replace the value of name0 with the valie that is in array2 you should use
array_replace(array1, array2)

Answer 3

Here is one idea, to remove the empty entries from both arrays ( array_filter_recursive() ) and to use array_replace_recursive().
array_replace_recursive:
array_replace_recursive() replaces the values of array1 with the same
values from all the following arrays. If a key from the first array
exists in the second array, its value will be replaced by the value
from the second array. If the key exists in the second array, and not
the first, it will be created in the first array. If a key only exists
in the first array, it will be left as is. If several arrays are
passed for replacement, they will be processed in order, the later
array overwriting the previous values.
$arr1 = json_decode( $arr1, true );
$arr2 = json_decode( $arr2, true );
function array_filter_recursive( $input ) {
foreach ( $input as &$value ) {
if ( is_array( $value ) )
$value = array_filter_recursive( $value );
}
return array_filter( $input );
}
$arr = array_replace_recursive(
$arr1, $arr2, array_filter_recursive( $arr1 ), array_filter_recursive( $arr2 )
);
print_r( $arr );
/*
Array (
[status] => OK
[message] => Data Show Successful
[name0] => Al
[city] =>
[pree] => R
[allknife] => Array (
[0] => Array (
[name] => Folder
[pos] => G
[pos_le] => R
)
[1] => Array (
[name] => Folder Two
[pos] => G
[pos_le] =>
)
)
)
*/