Posted by PHP has a wide range of array functions that make it much easier to use and manipulate arrays. Both array_merge() and array_combine() are important PHP functions to merge and combine the arrays.
Also, the Difference between array_merge() and array_combine() Function is an interview question which generally asks by the interviewer for 1 to 6 years of experience developers.
In this article, we learn the following topic:
Here are some important articles on the in-built function. you should check:
array_merge() function
We use
array_merge()
function to merge one or more arrays into one array. In this process, the array elements are appended to the end of the previous array to return the new array.
Syntax:
| 1 | array_merge(array1, array2, ...); |
Let’s take an example to understand:
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | <?php $array1 = array(2,4,5); $array2 = array(678,4,5); $array3 = array(678,10,23,40); $result = array_merge($array1, $array2, $array3); print_r($result); ?> |
Output: The
array_merge()
function has merged all three arrays in a single array.
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | Array ( [0] => 2 [1] => 4 [2] => 5 [3] => 678 [4] => 4 [5] => 5 [6] => 678 [7] => 10 [8] => 23 [9] => 40 ) |
If two or more elements in the array have the same key, then the last overrides the other.
Example:
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 | <?php $salary1 = array("John" => 1000, "Peter"=> 8000); $salary2 = array("Trop" => 2000, "Peter"=> 9000); $result = array_merge($salary1, $salary2); print_r($result); ?> |
In the above example, the “Peter” is the same key in both arrays but values are different so the value(8000) of key “Peter” in the array is overwritten by value(9000) from array two.
Output:
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 | Array ( [John] => 1000 [Peter] => 9000 [Trop] => 2000 ) |
array_combine() Function
We use
array_combine()
function to combine two arrays and creates a new array using one array as key and another as value. It takes two parameters and both should have the same number of elements otherwise it will show a warning message.
Syntax:
| 1 | array_combine(keys, values) |
Keys: This is an array that will convert as keys.
Values: This is also an array and that will convert as values.
Example:
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 | <?php $name = array("John", "Peter"); $salary = array(2000, 9000); $result = array_combine($name, $salary); print_r($result); ?> |
Output: In the example above, the elements of the first array will become key and the element of the second array will become values.
| 1 2 3 4 5 | Array ( [John] => 2000 [Peter] => 9000 ) |
Different between array_merge() and array_combine()
| array_merge() function | array_combine() function |
|---|---|
| It merges more than one array and returns an array. | It combines two arrays, the first array takes as key and second take as value. |
| array_merge() function can take multiple parameters and the element of the arrays can be different. | array_combine() function takes only two parameters and both should have the same number of elements. |
We have learned array_merge() and array_combine() Function and its differences. If you have questions, feel free to write in the comment box.