Merge values from multiple arrays in PHP [duplicate]

Question

I have the following object:

"themes": [
    {
      "name": "Anchor",
      "categories": "Creative, Portfolio",
    },
    {
      "name": "Agensy",
      "categories": "Creative, Portfolio",
    },
    {
      "name": "Serenity Pro",
      "categories": "One-Page, Multipurpose, Business, Landing Page",
    },
    {
      "name": "Integral Pro",
      "categories": "One-Page, Multipurpose, Business, Landing Page",
    }
  ]

I want to iterate through each array and collect the values of the categories key

Then remove duplicates and spit out an array of unique category names.

I have the following code:

$json = $this->curl_get_marketplace_contents();
$array = json_decode($json, true);
$categories = array();
foreach ($array['themes'] as $theme) {
    $array = explode(",", $theme['categories']);
    $array = array_map('trim', $array);
    $array = array_values($array);
    $array = array_unique($array);
    $categories = array_push($array, $categories);
    
};
return $categories;

But it's not working. It returns empty.

I feel like I'm close but I'm making a noob mistake. If anybody can point me in the right direction that would be great.

You're using the same variable $array for the original JSON array and the temporary array inside the loop. — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Oct 22, 2021 at 18:33
None of your categories have any duplicates. And there's no need to use array_values, since $array isn't an associative array after explode(). — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Oct 22, 2021 at 18:35

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-22 18:38:17Z

3

Use array_merge() to combine arrays, not array_push().

Remove the duplicates at the end after merging everything.

$json = $this->curl_get_marketplace_contents();
$data = json_decode($json, true);
$categories = array();
foreach ($data['themes'] as $theme) {
    $array = explode(",", $theme['categories']);
    $array = array_map('trim', $array);
    $categories = array_merge($array, $categories);
    
};
return array_unique($categories);

answered Oct 22, 2021 at 18:38

Barmar

789k57 gold badges555 silver badges669 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Hans Desjarlais Over a year ago

That worked, thank you. How do I then order then alphabetically? Use asort() ?

Barmar Over a year ago

Sort the array with sort(). asort() is for associative arrays.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Merge values from multiple arrays in PHP [duplicate]

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Linked

Related