Question

I am trying to set the values of an empty array with another array (based on rows returned from a database).

I have tried a few things like array_merge but I just end up adding to the first array.

Just curious if there is a way to do this or would I need to iterate thought each array and merge them?

The second array can have between 1 and 3 arrays in it, while the first (the “empty”) array has 3 elements always.

Empty array

(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [id] => 
            [quote_id] => 
            ...
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [id] => 
            [quote_id] => 
            ...
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [id] => 
            [quote_id] => 
            ...
        )

)

Array I want to copy data from

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [id] => 1
            [quote_id] => 1
            ...
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [id] => 2
            [quote_id] => 1
            ...
        )

) 

What I want to achieve

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [id] => 1
            [quote_id] => 1
            ...
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [id] => 2
            [quote_id] => 1
            ...
        )

      [2] => Array
        (
            [id] => 
            [quote_id] => 
            ...
        )

) 

Answer 1

You can make use of the array union operator^Docs:

$combined = $rows + $empty;

The + operator returns the right-hand array appended to the left-hand array; for keys that exist in both arrays, the elements from the left-hand array will be used, and the matching elements from the right-hand array will be ignored.