Grouping and Merging array in PHP

Question

I have an array mentioned below.

$array = array(
        \'0\' => array(
            \'names\' => array(0 => \'Apple\'),
            \'group\' => 1
         


        

Answer 1

By simply using the group values as temporary associative keys, you can swiftly determine (while iterating) if you should store the whole row of data, or just append the names value to an existing subarray.

*if your project data may contain input subarrays with more than one names value, you should update your question to clarify this possibility. (Fringe Demo) (Fringe Demo2)

Code: (Demo)

foreach ($array as $row) {
    if (!isset($result[$row['group']])) {
        $result[$row['group']] = $row;
    } else {
        $result[$row['group']]['names'][] = $row['names'][0];
    }
}

var_export(array_values($result));

Output:

array (
  0 => 
  array (
    'names' => 
    array (
      0 => 'Apple',
      1 => 'Mango',
      2 => 'Grapes',
    ),
    'group' => 1,
  ),
  1 => 
  array (
    'names' => 
    array (
      0 => 'Tomato',
      1 => 'Potato',
    ),
    'group' => 2,
  ),
)

You can use array_values() to remove the temporary associative keys from the result array.