Merge em all
There are quite a few functions and methods available:
Cake's Hash::merge() (former Set::merge) | array_merge() (pretty much the same than Cake's am() function) | array_merge_recursive()
The produce different results. So it's good to know when which of those merging methods should be best used. See for yourself.
The two arrays we want to merge:
Array
(
[root] => Array
(
[deep1] => Array
(
[deeper1a] => value1a
[deeper2b] => value2b
)
[deep2] => Array
(
[0] => deeper1
[1] => deeper2
)
[deep3] => stringX
)
)
|
Array
(
[root] => Array
(
[deep1] => Array
(
[deeper1a] => value1a
[deeper3b] => value3b
)
[deep2] => Array
(
[0] => deeper1
[1] => deeper3
)
[deep3] => stringY
)
)
|
Array
(
[root] => Array
(
[deep1] => Array
(
[deeper1a] => value1a
[deeper3b] => value3b
)
[deep2] => Array
(
[0] => deeper1
[1] => deeper3
)
[deep3] => stringY
)
)
Notes
- am() is useful if some arrays can be simple strings. This avoids notices thrown. This is irrevelant when it's clear that the input is an array.
- array_merge_recursive() is value oriented. It ignores keys and merge-adds values regardless if they already exist.
- array_merge() is more key oriented. If the same key exists, it will be overwritten.
- Hash::merge() is somewhere in the middle and behaves a little bit more key oriented while trying to keep values as well.