Insert new item in array on any position in PHP

Question

How can I insert a new item into an array on any position, for example in the middle of array?

Aphrodisiac

Possible duplicate of How to insert element into arrays at specific position? – Antiphony

Answer 1

You may find this a little more intuitive. It only requires one function call to array_splice:

$original = array( 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e' );
$inserted = array( 'x' ); // not necessarily an array, see manual quote
 
array_splice( $original, 3, 0, $inserted ); // splice in at position 3
// $original is now a b c x d e

If replacement is just one element it is not necessary to put array() around it, unless the element is an array itself, an object or NULL.

RETURN VALUE: To be noted that the function does not return the desired substitution. The $original is passed by reference and edited in place. See the expression array &$array with & in the parameters list .

Tjader

It's odd that such a basic functionality is actually sort of hidden, in that the main purpose of this function as described in the documentation is something different (replace stuff in arrays). Yes, it is pointed out in the arguments section, but if you are just scanning function descriptions to find what to use to insert in arrays you would have never found it. – Bullis

Just saying that this will not preserve keys in the $inserted array. – Stetson

Also in PHP manual, example #1: php.net/manual/en/function.array-splice.php – Mavismavra

@JacerOmri it is totally right, both statements are valid. You can pass a value of any type, but it might not behave the same for an array, an object, or null. For scalars, type-casting (array)$scalar is equivalent to array($scalar), but for an array, an object, or null, it will be ignored (array), convert to an array (object), or become an empty array (null) - see php.net/manual/en/… – Cart

@SunilPachlangia, adelval and others: with multi-dimensional arrays you need to wrap the replacement in an array, it's documented. I still brought the note here so people stop doing the mistake. – Lashing

@SunilPachlangia For a multidimensional array, this function allowed me to insert an array at a specified position: gist.github.com/wpscholar/0deadce1bbfa4adb4e4c It seems similar to other functions on this page, but I found it easier to understand. – Lamarlamarck

It seems that the behaviour of this function changed in PHP 7. Adding an empty array as an array element was possible in PHP 5 but does not seem possible anymore in PHP 7: $x = array('a','b','c','d'); array_splice($x, 2, 0, array()); – Logorrhea

Answer 2

A function that can insert at both integer and string positions:

/**
 * @param array      $array
 * @param int|string $position
 * @param mixed      $insert
 */
function array_insert(&$array, $position, $insert)
{
    if (is_int($position)) {
        array_splice($array, $position, 0, $insert);
    } else {
        $pos   = array_search($position, array_keys($array));
        $array = array_merge(
            array_slice($array, 0, $pos),
            $insert,
            array_slice($array, $pos)
        );
    }
}

Integer usage:

$arr = ["one", "two", "three"];
array_insert(
    $arr,
    1,
    "one-half"
);
// ->
array (
  0 => 'one',
  1 => 'one-half',
  2 => 'two',
  3 => 'three',
)

String Usage:

$arr = [
    "name"  => [
        "type"      => "string",
        "maxlength" => "30",
    ],
    "email" => [
        "type"      => "email",
        "maxlength" => "150",
    ],
];

array_insert(
    $arr,
    "email",
    [
        "phone" => [
            "type"   => "string",
            "format" => "phone",
        ],
    ]
);
// ->
array (
  'name' =>
  array (
    'type' => 'string',
    'maxlength' => '30',
  ),
  'phone' =>
  array (
    'type' => 'string',
    'format' => 'phone',
  ),
  'email' =>
  array (
    'type' => 'email',
    'maxlength' => '150',
  ),
)

Cribb

The array_splice() loses the keys, whereas array_merge() does not. So the results of the first function can be very surprising... Especially because if you have two elements with the same key, only the value of the last one is kept... – Hamal

We can also use $array = array_slice($array, 0, $pos) + $insert + array_slice($array, $pos); instead of array_merge function. The function will return the same output. – Yetty

Answer 3

$a = array(1, 2, 3, 4);
$b = array_merge(array_slice($a, 0, 2), array(5), array_slice($a, 2));
// $b = array(1, 2, 5, 3, 4)

Medor

Using + instead of array_merge can preserve keys – Stetson

Now I can add more elements before an INDEX – Corettacorette

Array merge only can merge numeric array. So u should use + instead of array_merge. – Bounteous

Please ignore all comments that suggest that array_merge() is inappropriate or that the array union operator is appropriate for numeric keys. Watch the union operator fail horribly. – Dola

Answer 4

If you want to keep the keys of the initial array and also add an array that has keys, then use the function below:

function insertArrayAtPosition( $array, $insert, $position ) {
    /*
    $array : The initial array i want to modify
    $insert : the new array i want to add, eg array('key' => 'value') or array('value')
    $position : the position where the new array will be inserted into. Please mind that arrays start at 0
    */
    return array_slice($array, 0, $position, TRUE) + $insert + array_slice($array, $position, NULL, TRUE);
}

Call example:

$array = insertArrayAtPosition($array, array('key' => 'Value'), 3);

Tijerina

Answer 5

This way you can insert arrays:

function array_insert(&$array, $value, $index)
{
    return $array = array_merge(array_splice($array, max(0, $index - 1)), array($value), $array);
}

Illustrate

That function does not save the order in array. – Trademark

This solution is misleading / poorly implemented. Here is a correction which uses array_splice() prior to merging and properly orders the element assembly. I understand why max()! is used, but it should be explained to researchers in the answer since it is covering a fringe scenario. – Dola

Answer 6

There is no native PHP function (that I am aware of) that can do exactly what you requested.

I've written 2 methods that I believe are fit for purpose:

function insertBefore($input, $index, $element) {
    if (!array_key_exists($index, $input)) {
        throw new Exception("Index not found");
    }
    $tmpArray = array();
    $originalIndex = 0;
    foreach ($input as $key => $value) {
        if ($key === $index) {
            $tmpArray[] = $element;
            break;
        }
        $tmpArray[$key] = $value;
        $originalIndex++;
    }
    array_splice($input, 0, $originalIndex, $tmpArray);
    return $input;
}

function insertAfter($input, $index, $element) {
    if (!array_key_exists($index, $input)) {
        throw new Exception("Index not found");
    }
    $tmpArray = array();
    $originalIndex = 0;
    foreach ($input as $key => $value) {
        $tmpArray[$key] = $value;
        $originalIndex++;
        if ($key === $index) {
            $tmpArray[] = $element;
            break;
        }
    }
    array_splice($input, 0, $originalIndex, $tmpArray);
    return $input;
}

While faster and probably more memory efficient, this is only really suitable where it is not necessary to maintain the keys of the array.

If you do need to maintain keys, the following would be more suitable;

function insertBefore($input, $index, $newKey, $element) {
    if (!array_key_exists($index, $input)) {
        throw new Exception("Index not found");
    }
    $tmpArray = array();
    foreach ($input as $key => $value) {
        if ($key === $index) {
            $tmpArray[$newKey] = $element;
        }
        $tmpArray[$key] = $value;
    }
    return $tmpArray;
}

function insertAfter($input, $index, $newKey, $element) {
    if (!array_key_exists($index, $input)) {
        throw new Exception("Index not found");
    }
    $tmpArray = array();
    foreach ($input as $key => $value) {
        $tmpArray[$key] = $value;
        if ($key === $index) {
            $tmpArray[$newKey] = $element;
        }
    }
    return $tmpArray;
}

Arelus

This works fine. However, in the second example, in your function insertBefore(), you should return $tmpArray instead of $input. – Chordate

Answer 7

This function by Brad Erickson worked for me for the associative array:

/*
 * Inserts a new key/value after the key in the array.
 *
 * @param $key
 *   The key to insert after.
 * @param $array
 *   An array to insert in to.
 * @param $new_key
 *   The key to insert.
 * @param $new_value
 *   An value to insert.
 *
 * @return
 *   The new array if the key exists, FALSE otherwise.
 *
 * @see array_insert_before()
 */
function array_insert_after($key, array &$array, $new_key, $new_value) {
  if (array_key_exists($key, $array)) {
    $new = array();
    foreach ($array as $k => $value) {
      $new[$k] = $value;
      if ($k === $key) {
        $new[$new_key] = $new_value;
      }
    }
    return $new;
  }
  return FALSE;
}

The function source - this blog post. There's also handy function to insert BEFORE specific key.

Sulcus

Answer 8

How to preserve array keys using array_splice()

The answer of @jay.lee is correct, unfortunately it doesn't preserve the keys of an array, as pointed out in the comments:

$original = array( 
    'a' => 'A', 
    'b' => 'B', 
    'c' => 'C', 
    // insert here
    'd' => 'D', 
    'e' => 'E');

$inserted = array( 'x' => 'X' ); 

array_splice( $original, 3, 0, $inserted );
print_r($original);

/* Output
Array
(
    [a] => A
    [b] => B
    [c] => C
    [0] => X  <= the lost key 
    [d] => D
    [e] => E
) */

The simplest way I found to preserve the array keys is to use the array_splice() function and adding the arrays together using + / union operators (also mentioned in the comments of another answer):

$original = array( 
    'a' => 'A', 
    'b' => 'B', 
    'c' => 'C', 
    // insert here
    'd' => 'D', 
    'e' => 'E');

$inserted = array( 'x' => 'X' ); 

// Insert before postion 'd'
$before = array_splice( $original, 0, 3 ); // $original contains the left over

// Merge together
$result = $before + $inserted + $original;
print_r($result);

/* Output
Array
(
    [a] => A
    [b] => B
    [c] => C
    [x] => X
    [d] => D
    [e] => E
) */

Note: using array union operators is only safe when dealing with non-numeric keys

---

Thanks for the correction @mickmackusa

Tholos

@Dola thanks for point that out. I removed that part as it isn't really part of the solution. – Tholos

Answer 9

Based on @Halil great answer, here is simple function how to insert new element after a specific key, while preserving integer keys:

private function arrayInsertAfterKey($array, $afterKey, $key, $value){
    $pos   = array_search($afterKey, array_keys($array));

    return array_merge(
        array_slice($array, 0, $pos, $preserve_keys = true),
        array($key=>$value),
        array_slice($array, $pos, $preserve_keys = true)
    );
} 

Dawn

This answer doesn't check if $pos is false. – Dola

Answer 10

function insert(&$arr, $value, $index){       
    $lengh = count($arr);
    if($index<0||$index>$lengh)
        return;

    for($i=$lengh; $i>$index; $i--){
        $arr[$i] = $arr[$i-1];
    }

    $arr[$index] = $value;
}

Ulcer

This answer is missing its educational explanation. – Dola

Answer 11

You can use this

foreach ($array as $key => $value) 
{
    if($key==1)
    {
        $new_array[]=$other_array;
    }   
    $new_array[]=$value;    
}

Seafaring

This answer is missing its educational explanation. – Dola

Answer 12

This is also a working solution:

function array_insert(&$array,$element,$position=null) {
  if (count($array) == 0) {
    $array[] = $element;
  }
  elseif (is_numeric($position) && $position < 0) {
    if((count($array)+position) < 0) {
      $array = array_insert($array,$element,0);
    }
    else {
      $array[count($array)+$position] = $element;
    }
  }
  elseif (is_numeric($position) && isset($array[$position])) {
    $part1 = array_slice($array,0,$position,true);
    $part2 = array_slice($array,$position,null,true);
    $array = array_merge($part1,array($position=>$element),$part2);
    foreach($array as $key=>$item) {
      if (is_null($item)) {
        unset($array[$key]);
      }
    }
  }
  elseif (is_null($position)) {
    $array[] = $element;
  }  
  elseif (!isset($array[$position])) {
    $array[$position] = $element;
  }
  $array = array_merge($array);
  return $array;
}

credits go to: http://binarykitten.com/php/52-php-insert-element-and-shift.html

Anders

This answer is missing its educational explanation. – Dola

Answer 13

Solution by jay.lee is perfect. In case you want to add item(s) to a multidimensional array, first add a single dimensional array and then replace it afterwards.

$original = (
[0] => Array
    (
        [title] => Speed
        [width] => 14
    )

[1] => Array
    (
        [title] => Date
        [width] => 18
    )

[2] => Array
    (
        [title] => Pineapple
        [width] => 30
     )
)

Adding an item in same format to this array will add all new array indexes as items instead of just item.

$new = array(
    'title' => 'Time',
    'width' => 10
);
array_splice($original,1,0,array('random_string')); // can be more items
$original[1] = $new;  // replaced with actual item

Note: Adding items directly to a multidimensional array with array_splice will add all its indexes as items instead of just that item.

Compony

Answer 14

Hint for adding an element at the beginning of an array:

$a = array('first', 'second');
$a[-1] = 'i am the new first element';

then:

foreach($a as $aelem)
    echo $a . ' ';
//returns first, second, i am...

but:

for ($i = -1; $i < count($a)-1; $i++)
     echo $a . ' ';
//returns i am as 1st element

Divorcement

Hint for adding an element at the beginning: array_unshift($a,'i am the new first element'); – Atencio

Answer 15

Try this one:

$colors = array('red', 'blue', 'yellow');

$colors = insertElementToArray($colors, 'green', 2);


function insertElementToArray($arr = array(), $element = null, $index = 0)
{
    if ($element == null) {
        return $arr;
    }

    $arrLength = count($arr);
    $j = $arrLength - 1;

    while ($j >= $index) {
        $arr[$j+1] = $arr[$j];
        $j--;
    }

    $arr[$index] = $element;

    return $arr;
}

Javierjavler

Why try this? This answer is missing its educational explanation. – Dola

Answer 16

function array_insert($array, $position, $insert) {
    if ($position > 0) {
        if ($position == 1) {
            array_unshift($array, array());
        } else {
            $position = $position - 1;
            array_splice($array, $position, 0, array(
                ''
            ));
        }
        $array[$position] = $insert;
    }

    return $array;
}

Call example:

$array = array_insert($array, 1, ['123', 'abc']);

Wethington

This answer is missing its educational explanation. – Dola

Answer 17

You can try it, use this method to make it easy

/**
 * array insert element on position
 * 
 * @link https://vector.cool
 * 
 * @since 1.01.38
 *
 * @param array $original
 * @param mixed $inserted
 * @param int   $position
 * @return array
 */
function array_insert(&$original, $inserted, int $position): array
{
    array_splice($original, $position, 0, array($inserted));
    return $original;
}


$columns = [
    ['name' => '預約項目', 'column' => 'item_name'],
    ['name' => '預約時間', 'column' => 'start_time'],
    ['name' => '預約姓名', 'column' => 'full_name'],
    ['name' => '連絡電話', 'column' => 'phone'],
    ['name' => '建立時間', 'column' => 'create_time']
];
$col = ['name' => '預約帳戶', 'column' => 'user_id'];
$columns = array_insert($columns, $col, 3);
print_r($columns);

Print out:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [name] => 預約項目
            [column] => item_name
        )
    [1] => Array
        (
            [name] => 預約時間
            [column] => start_time
        )
    [2] => Array
        (
            [name] => 預約姓名
            [column] => full_name
        )
    [3] => Array
        (
            [name] => 報名人數1
            [column] => num_of_people
        )
    [4] => Array
        (
            [name] => 連絡電話
            [column] => phone
        )
    [5] => Array
        (
            [name] => 預約帳戶
            [column] => user_id
        )
    [6] => Array
        (
            [name] => 建立時間
            [column] => create_time
        )
)

Jinn

Answer 18

$result_array = array();
$array = array("Tim","John","Mark");
$new_element = "Bill";
$position = 1; 

for ($i=0; $i<count($array); $i++)
    {
      if ($i==$position)
       {
          $result_array[] = $new_element;
       }
       $result_array[] = $array[$i];
    }

print_r($result_array); 

// Result will Array([0] => "Tim",[1] => "Bill", [2] => "John",[1] => "Mark")

Allegra

Welcome to SO! Could you please add some description of what is the advantage of your solution? Thanks. – Bair

Answer 19

Normally, with scalar values:

$elements = array('foo', ...);
array_splice($array, $position, $length, $elements);

To insert a single array element into your array don't forget to wrap the array in an array (as it was a scalar value!):

$element = array('key1'=>'value1');
$elements = array($element);
array_splice($array, $position, $length, $elements);

otherwise all the keys of the array will be added piece by piece.

Mitsukomitt

Answer 20

This can be done with array_splice however, array_splice fails when inserting an array or using a string key. I wrote a function to handle all cases:

function array_insert(&$arr, $index, $val)
{
    if (is_string($index))
        $index = array_search($index, array_keys($arr));
    if (is_array($val))
        array_splice($arr, $index, 0, [$index => $val]);
    else
        array_splice($arr, $index, 0, $val);
}

Hybris

Answer 21

For inserting elements into an array with string keys you can do something like this:

/* insert an element after given array key
 * $src = array()  array to work with
 * $ins = array() to insert in key=>array format
 * $pos = key that $ins will be inserted after
 */ 
function array_insert_string_keys($src,$ins,$pos) {

    $counter=1;
    foreach($src as $key=>$s){
        if($key==$pos){
            break;
        }
        $counter++;
    } 

    $array_head = array_slice($src,0,$counter);
    $array_tail = array_slice($src,$counter);

    $src = array_merge($array_head, $ins);
    $src = array_merge($src, $array_tail);

    return($src); 
} 

Overdone

why not $src = array_merge($array_head, $ins, $array_tail); ? – Babble

Answer 22

If you have regular arrays and nothing fancy, this will do. Remember, using array_splice() for inserting elements really means insert before the start index. Be careful when moving elements, because moving up means $targetIndex -1, where as moving down means $targetIndex + 1.

class someArrayClass
{
    private const KEEP_EXISTING_ELEMENTS = 0;

    public function insertAfter(array $array, int $startIndex, $newElements)
    {
        return $this->insertBefore($array, $startIndex + 1, $newElements);
    }

    public function insertBefore(array $array, int $startIndex, $newElements)
    {
        return array_splice($array, $startIndex, self::KEEP_EXISTING_ELEMENTS, $newElements);
    }
}

Janessajanet

Answer 23

After working on this for a few days, here was the easiest solution I could find.

$indexnumbertoaddat // this is a variable that points to the index # where you 
want the new array to be inserted

$arrayToAdd = array(array('key' => $value, 'key' => $value)); //this is the new 
 array and it's values that you want to add. //the key here is to write it like 
 array(array('key' =>, since you're adding this array inside another array. This 
 is the point that a lot of answer left out. 

array_splice($originalArray, $indexnumbertoaddatt, 0, $arrayToAdd); //the actual 
splice function. You're doing it to $originalArray, at the index # you define, 
0 means you're just shifting all other index items down 1, and then you add the 
new array. 

Sundried