Is there a function to make a copy of a PHP array to another?

Question

Is there a function to make a copy of a PHP array to another?

I have been burned a few times trying to copy PHP arrays. I want to copy an array defined inside an object to a global outside it.

Answer 1

In PHP, all variables except objects are assigned by the mechanism called copy-on-write, while objects are assigned by reference. Which means that for the arrays with scalar values simply $b = $a already will give you a copy:

$a = array();
$b = $a;
$b['foo'] = 42;
var_dump($a);

Will yield:

array(0) {
}

Whereas with objects,

$a = new StdClass();
$b = $a;
$b->foo = 42;
var_dump($a);

Yields:

object(stdClass)#1 (1) {
  ["foo"]=>
  int(42)
}

An edge case when array elements could be objects that need to be cloned as well, is explained in another answer

You could get confused by intricacies such as ArrayObject, which is an object that acts exactly like an array. Being an object however, it has reference semantics.

Edit: @AndrewLarsson raises a point in the comments below. PHP has a special feature called "references". They are somewhat similar to pointers in languages like C/C++, but not quite the same. If your array contains references, then while the array itself is passed by copy, the references will still resolve to the original target. That's of course usually the desired behaviour, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Answer 2

PHP will copy the array by default. References in PHP have to be explicit.

$a = array(1,2);
$b = $a; // $b will be a different array
$c = &$a; // $c will be a reference to $a

Answer 3

If you have an array that contains objects, you need to make a copy of that array without touching its internal pointer, and you need all the objects to be cloned (so that you're not modifying the originals when you make changes to the copied array), use this.

The trick to not touching the array's internal pointer is to make sure you're working with a copy of the array, and not the original array (or a reference to it), so using a function parameter will get the job done (thus, this is a function that takes in an array).

Note that you will still need to implement __clone() on your objects if you'd like their properties to also be cloned.

This function works for any type of array (including mixed type).

function array_clone($array) {
    return array_map(function($element) {
        return ((is_array($element))
            ? array_clone($element)
            : ((is_object($element))
                ? clone $element
                : $element
            )
        );
    }, $array);
}

Answer 4

When you do

$array_x = $array_y;

PHP copies the array, so I'm not sure how you would have gotten burned. For your case,

global $foo;
$foo = $obj->bar;

should work fine.

In order to get burned, I would think you'd either have to have been using references or expecting objects inside the arrays to be cloned.

Answer 5

simple and makes deep copy breaking all links

$new=unserialize(serialize($old));

Answer 6

I like array_replace (or array_replace_recursive).

$cloned = array_replace([], $YOUR_ARRAY);

It works like Object.assign from JavaScript.

$original = [ 'foo' => 'bar', 'fiz' => 'baz' ];

$cloned = array_replace([], $original);
$clonedWithReassignment = array_replace([], $original, ['foo' => 'changed']);
$clonedWithNewValues = array_replace([], $original, ['add' => 'new']);

$original['new'] = 'val';

will result in

// original: 
{"foo":"bar","fiz":"baz","new":"val"}
// cloned:   
{"foo":"bar","fiz":"baz"}
// cloned with reassignment:
{"foo":"changed","fiz":"baz"}
// cloned with new values:
{"foo":"bar","fiz":"baz","add":"new"}

Answer 7

array_merge() is a function in which you can copy one array to another in PHP.

Answer 8

If you have only basic types in your array you can do this:

$copy = json_decode( json_encode($array), true);

You won't need to update the references manually
I know it won't work for everyone, but it worked for me

Answer 9

I know this as long time ago, but this worked for me..

$copied_array = array_slice($original_array,0,count($original_array));

Answer 10

Safest and cheapest way I found is:

<?php 
$b = array_values($a);

This has also the benefit to reindex the array.

This will not work as expected on associative array (hash), but neither most of previous answer.

Answer 11

Since this wasn't covered in any of the answers and is now available in PHP 5.3 (assumed Original Post was using 5.2).

In order to maintain an array structure and change its values I prefer to use array_replace or array_replace_recursive depending on my use case.

http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-replace.php

Here is an example using array_replace and array_replace_recursive demonstrating it being able to maintain the indexed order and capable of removing a reference.

http://ideone.com/SzlBUZ

The code below is written using the short array syntax available since PHP 5.4 which replaces array() with []. http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php

Works on either offset indexed and name indexed arrays

$o1 = new stdClass;
$a = 'd';
//This is the base array or the initial structure
$o1->ar1 = ['a', 'b', ['ca', 'cb']];
$o1->ar1[3] = & $a; //set 3rd offset to reference $a

//direct copy (not passed by reference)
$o1->ar2 = $o1->ar1; //alternatively array_replace($o1->ar1, []);
$o1->ar1[0] = 'z'; //set offset 0 of ar1 = z do not change ar2
$o1->ar1[3] = 'e'; //$a = e (changes value of 3rd offset to e in ar1 and ar2)

//copy and remove reference to 3rd offset of ar1 and change 2nd offset to a new array
$o1->ar3 = array_replace($o1->ar1, [2 => ['aa'], 3 => 'd']);

//maintain original array of the 2nd offset in ar1 and change the value at offset 0
//also remove reference of the 2nd offset
//note: offset 3 and 2 are transposed
$o1->ar4 = array_replace_recursive($o1->ar1, [3 => 'f', 2 => ['bb']]);

var_dump($o1);

Output:

["ar1"]=>
  array(4) {
    [0]=>
    string(1) "z"
    [1]=>
    string(1) "b"
    [2]=>
    array(2) {
      [0]=>
      string(2) "ca"
      [1]=>
      string(2) "cb"
    }
    [3]=>
    &string(1) "e"
  }
  ["ar2"]=>
  array(4) {
    [0]=>
    string(1) "a"
    [1]=>
    string(1) "b"
    [2]=>
    array(2) {
      [0]=>
      string(2) "ca"
      [1]=>
      string(2) "cb"
    }
    [3]=>
    &string(1) "e"
  }
  ["ar3"]=>
  array(4) {
    [0]=>
    string(1) "z"
    [1]=>
    string(1) "b"
    [2]=>
    array(1) {
      [0]=>
      string(2) "aa"
    }
    [3]=>
    string(1) "d"
  }
  ["ar4"]=>
  array(4) {
    [0]=>
    string(1) "z"
    [1]=>
    string(1) "b"
    [2]=>
    array(2) {
      [0]=>
      string(2) "bb"
      [1]=>
      string(2) "cb"
    }
    [3]=>
    string(1) "f"
  }

Answer 12

Creates a copy of the ArrayObject

<?php
// Array of available fruits
$fruits = array("lemons" => 1, "oranges" => 4, "bananas" => 5, "apples" => 10);

$fruitsArrayObject = new ArrayObject($fruits);
$fruitsArrayObject['pears'] = 4;

// create a copy of the array
$copy = $fruitsArrayObject->getArrayCopy();
print_r($copy);

?>

from https://www.php.net/manual/en/arrayobject.getarraycopy.php

Answer 13

This is the way I am copying my arrays in Php:

function equal_array($arr){
  $ArrayObject = new ArrayObject($arr);
  return $ArrayObject->getArrayCopy();  
}

$test = array("aa","bb",3);
$test2 = equal_array($test);
print_r($test2);

This outputs:

Array
(
[0] => aa
[1] => bb
[2] => 3
)

Answer 14

<?php
function arrayCopy( array $array ) {
        $result = array();
        foreach( $array as $key => $val ) {
            if( is_array( $val ) ) {
                $result[$key] = arrayCopy( $val );
            } elseif ( is_object( $val ) ) {
                $result[$key] = clone $val;
            } else {
                $result[$key] = $val;
            }
        }
        return $result;
}
?>

Answer 15

$arr_one_copy = array_combine(array_keys($arr_one), $arr_one);

Just to post one more solution ;)

Answer 16

private function cloneObject($mixed)
{
    switch (true) {
        case is_object($mixed):
            return clone $mixed;
        case is_array($mixed):
            return array_map(array($this, __FUNCTION__), $mixed);
        default:
            return $mixed;
    }
}

Answer 17

Define this:

$copy = create_function('$a', 'return $a;');

Copy $_ARRAY to $_ARRAY2 :

$_ARRAY2 = array_map($copy, $_ARRAY);

Answer 18

In php array, you need to just assign them to other variable to get copy of that array. But first you need to make sure about it's type, whether it is array or arrayObject or stdObject.

For Simple php array :

$a = array(
'data' => 10
);

$b = $a;

var_dump($b);

output:

array:1 [
  "data" => 10
]

Answer 19

foreach($a as $key => $val) $b[$key] = $val ;

Preserves both key and values. Array 'a' is an exact copy of array 'b'