{{notice:
This function's solution uses a Ruby Hash object since Ruby arrays don't use
associative key/value pairs. See Array for more details.
}}
In Ruby we typically wouldn't merge an array. Since arrays are a simple ordered stack of elements in Ruby, merging is the same as appending the values to the end of the Ruby array.
{{code:php // keys are renumbered $first = array('first'); $second = array('second', 'third'); $result = array_merge($first, $second); var_export($result); // => array(0 => 'first', 1 => 'second', 2 => 'third') }}
{{code:ruby first = ["first"] second = ["second", "third"] p first + second # ["first", "second", "third"] }}
When working with an associative array (a hash in Ruby), merging in both PHP and Ruby replaces any existing elements with the same key.
{{code:php $person = array('name' => 'Walter', 'weight' => 184); $updates = array('weight' => 200, 'age' => 42); $result = array_merge($person, $updates); var_export($result); // => array('name' => 'Walter', 'weight' => 200, 'age' => 42) }}
{{code:ruby person = {:name => "Walter", :weight => 184} updates = {:weight => 200, :age => 42} p person.merge(updates) # => {:age=>42, :weight=>200, :name=>"Walter"} }}
{{related:
array/array_merge_recursive
array/array_combine
}}