php - Interleaving multiple arrays into a single array

Question

I need to merge several arrays into a single array. The best way to describe what I'm looking for is "interleaving" the arrays into a single array.

For example take item one from array #1 and append to the final array. Get item one from array #2 and append to the final array. Get item two from array #1 and append...etc.

The final array would look something like this:

array#1.element#1 array#2.element#1 . . .

The "kicker" is that the individual arrays can be of various lengths.

Is there a better data structure to use?

Answer 1

for example,

function array_zip_merge() {
  $output = array();
  // The loop incrementer takes each array out of the loop as it gets emptied by array_shift().
  for ($args = func_get_args(); count($args); $args = array_filter($args)) {
    // &$arg allows array_shift() to change the original.
    foreach ($args as &$arg) {
      $output[] = array_shift($arg);
    }
  }
  return $output;
}

// test

$a = range(1, 10);
$b = range('a', 'f');
$c = range('A', 'B');
echo implode('', array_zip_merge($a, $b, $c)); // prints 1aA2bB3c4d5e6f78910