Question

I have two variables, which are both arrays:

$var1=array();

$var1['something']['secondary_something'][1]="foo";
$var1['something']['secondary_something'][2]="foo";
$var1['something']['secondary_something'][3]="foo";
$var1['something']['secondary_something'][4]="foo";

Now I have a function, that takes an array for input:

function something($input=array()){

print_r($input);//print the array out

}//end of function

But I need $input to be like a reference to $var1, so when I call the function, appending to variable 2 ($input) like this:

$myInputVar=array();
$myInputVar['something']['secondary_something'][]="foo";
$myInputVar['something']['secondary_something'][]="foo";
//Notice how I append to the var above, not giving a key name in the third dimension of the array.
something($myInputVar);

Now that would simply print:

Array ( [something] => Array ( [secondary_something] => Array ( [0] => foo [1] => foo ) ) )

But I need the second var ($input, from the function) to be a reference of the first var ($var1).

So, the end result should be:

Array ( [something] => Array ( [secondary_something] => Array ( [5] => foo [6] => foo ) ) )

Some guys have told me to use the =& (which makes one var a reference to another), but I just can’t seem to get my head around how I would do it with =& in this case.

Is what I’m trying to do even possible? If so, could you please shine some light on it.

Answer 1

I am struggling to understand what you are trying to achieve.
Why would you print the array out?
You always need a value and an array if you want to push something into the array.
You can do this with

function something(&$array, $val) { // take the assigned $array as reference
  $array[] = $val;
}

Then calling with

$test = array();
something($test, 'foo');
print_r($test); // => array ( 'test' )

I hope this helps

---

EDIT

function something(&$array, $array_new) {
   $array = array_merge($array, $array_new); // to combine/merge both arrays
   // please keep in mind that $array is technically $var, because it references to this variable
}

$var1=array();

$var1['something']['secondary_something'][1]="foo";
$var1['something']['secondary_something'][2]="foo";
$var1['something']['secondary_something'][3]="foo";
$var1['something']['secondary_something'][4]="foo";

$myInputVar=array();
$myInputVar['something']['secondary_something'][]="foo";
$myInputVar['something']['secondary_something'][]="foo";

something($var, $myInputVar);