The only array operator in PHP is the + operator. It appends the right handed array to the left handed, whereas duplicated keys are NOT overwritten.
$a = array("a" => "apple", "b" => "banana");
$b = array("a" =>"pear", "b" => "strawberry", "c" => "cherry");
$c = $a + $b;
var_dump($c); |
array(3) {
["a"]=>
string(5) "apple"
["b"]=>
string(6) "banana"
["c"]=>
string(6) "cherry"
} |
See also the manual sections on the Array type and Array functions.