How to add an array value to the middle of an associative array?

Question

Lets say I have this array:

$array = array('a'=>1,'z'=>2,'d'=>4);

Later in the script, I want to add the value 'c'=>3 before 'z'. How can I do this?

Yes, the order is important. When I run a foreach() through the array, I do NOT want this newly added value added to the end of the array. I am getting this array from a mysql_fetch_assoc()

The keys I used above are placeholders. Using ksort() will not achieve what I want.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.array-splice.php#88896 accomplishes what I'm looking for but I'm looking for something simpler.

Take a sample db table with about 30 columns. I get this data using mysql_fetch_assoc(). In this new array, after column 'pizza' and 'drink', I want to add a new column 'full_dinner' that combines the values of 'pizza' and 'drink' so that when I run a foreach() on the said array, 'full_dinner' comes directly after 'drink'

Answer 1

Am I missing something?

$key = 'z';
$offset = array_search($key, array_keys($array));

$result = array_merge
        (
            array_slice($array, 0, $offset),
            array('c' => 3),
            array_slice($array, $offset, null)
        );

---

Handling of nonexistent keys (appending $data by default):

function insertBeforeKey($array, $key, $data = null)
{
    if (($offset = array_search($key, array_keys($array))) === false) // if the key doesn't exist
    {
        $offset = 0; // should we prepend $array with $data?
        $offset = count($array); // or should we append $array with $data? lets pick this one...
    }

    return array_merge(array_slice($array, 0, $offset), (array) $data, array_slice($array, $offset));
}

Demo:

$array = array('a' => 1, 'z' => 2, 'd' => 4);

// array(4) { ["a"]=> int(1) ["c"]=> int(3) ["z"]=> int(2) ["d"]=> int(4) }
var_dump(insertBeforeKey($array, 'z', array('c' => 3)));

// array(4) { ["a"]=> int(1) ["z"]=> int(2) ["d"]=> int(4) ["c"]=> int(3) }
var_dump(insertBeforeKey($array, 'y', array('c' => 3)));