php recursive merge - php

Question

I need to merge some arrays in some different way and I use array_merge_recursive.
However there is something that I need to change and I don't know how.
Here is quote from php.net
If, however, the arrays have the same numeric key, the later value
will not overwrite the original value, but will be appended.
I want this value, NOT to be appended, I want not to append exact values in the new array.Hope you've understood this.
Example:
$array = array(
'some' => array(
'other' => 'key',
),
);
$array2 = array();
$array2['some']['other'] = 'key2';
If I use array_merge_recursive It will result this:
Array (
[some] => Array
(
[other] => Array
(
[0] => key
[1] => key2
)
) )
I want if it matches the same result, not to append it.Yes I know, you would say, then use array_merge, but it doesn't work well, too.
If I use this:
$array = array(
'some' => array(
'other' => 'key',
),
);
$array2 = array();
$array2['some']['other2'] = 'key2';
print_r(array_merge($array, $array2));
It will remove $array[some][other] from the list and leave only $array[some][other2].I don't know which is better, since no one makes it better.

Answer 1

For PHP >= 5.3 just use array_replace_recursive

Answer 2

try this
<?php
function mymerge(&$a,$b){ //$a will be result. $a will be edited. It's to avoid a lot of copying in recursion
foreach($b as $child=>$value){
if(isset($a[$child])){
if(is_array($a[$child]) && is_array($value)){ //merge if they are both arrays
mymerge($a[$child],$value);
}
//else ignore, you can add your own logic, i.e when 1 of them is array
}
else
$a[$child]=$value; //add if not exists
}
//return $a;
}

Answer 3

An other alternative, the array_merge_deep from drupal:
function array_merge_deep($arrays) {
$result = array();
foreach ($arrays as $array) {
foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
// Renumber integer keys as array_merge_recursive() does. Note that PHP
// automatically converts array keys that are integer strings (e.g., '1')
// to integers.
if (is_integer($key)) {
$result[] = $value;
}
// Recurse when both values are arrays.
elseif (isset($result[$key]) && is_array($result[$key]) && is_array($value)) {
$result[$key] = array_merge_deep(array($result[$key], $value));
}
// Otherwise, use the latter value, overriding any previous value.
else {
$result[$key] = $value;
}
}
}
return $result;
}

Answer 4

I wrote my merge class for it:
<?php
class ArrayMerge
{
/**
* #param array $a
* #param array $b
*
* #return array
*/
public function merge ( $a, $b ) {
foreach ( $b as $k => $v ) {
if ( is_array( $v ) ) {
if ( isset( $a[ $k ] ) ) {
if ( $this->isDeep( $v ) ) {
$a[ $k ] = $this->merge( $a[ $k ], $v );
} else {
$a[ $k ] = array_merge( $a[ $k ], $v );
}
} else {
$a[ $k ] = $v;
}
} else {
$a[ $k ] = $v;
}
}
return $a;
}
/**
* #param array $array
*
* #return bool
*/
private function isDeep ( $array ) {
foreach ( $array as $elm ) {
if ( is_array( $elm ) ) {
return TRUE;
}
}
return FALSE;
}
}

Answer 5

I started from RiaD's version and added object handling. Need testing and feedback
function recursiveMerge(&$a,$b){ //$a will be result. $a will be edited. It's to avoid a lot of copying in recursion
if(is_array($b) || is_object($b)){
foreach($b as $child=>$value){
if(is_array($a)){
if(isset($a[$child]))
recursiveMerge($a[$child],$value);
else
$a[$child]=$value;
}
elseif(is_object($a)){
if(isset($a->{$child}))
recursiveMerge($a->{$child},$value);
else
$a->{$child}=$value;
}
}
}
else
$a=$b;
}