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Unexpected results with PHP 8.1 array_merge when combining arrays with numeric keys

👀 Views: 40 đŸ’Ŧ Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-05
php arrays array_merge PHP

I'm stuck trying to I tried several approaches but none seem to work..... I'm experiencing an scenario with `array_merge` in PHP 8.1 when trying to combine two arrays that both have numeric keys. Instead of merging the arrays and re-indexing them, it seems to just append the second array's values at the end of the first one, resulting in a confusing output. For example, I have the following two arrays: ```php $array1 = [1 => 'apple', 2 => 'banana']; $array2 = [1 => 'orange', 3 => 'grape']; ``` When I perform the merge: ```php $mergedArray = array_merge($array1, $array2); print_r($mergedArray); ``` I expected the result to re-index the merged array, but instead, I got: ``` Array ( [0] => apple [1] => banana [2] => orange [3] => grape ) ``` This isn't the behavior I anticipated since I thought `array_merge` would keep the numeric keys and not just re-index them. I've tried using different combinations and switching to `array_replace`, but it doesn't resolve the scenario either. Is this the expected behavior in PHP 8.1, or am I missing something? How can I properly merge these arrays while preserving the keys as I intended? Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! I'm working with Php in a Docker container on Windows 10. Any examples would be super helpful. This is happening in both development and production on Debian. I'm coming from a different tech stack and learning Php. What's the correct way to implement this?