What is += used for?

Question

I think this is a dumb question but I could not find it on php. Why is a + with the = in the following code:

function calculateRanking()
{
    $created = $th         


        

Answer 1

If both operands are arrays, $a += $b is also a shorthand for array_merge($a, $b). This function combines two arrays into one, discarding any key in $b that already exists in $a.

$arr1 = array(4 => "four", 1 => "one", 2 => "two");
$arr2 = array("three", "four", "five");
$arr1 += $arr2;
print_r ($arr1);

// outputs:
Array
(
    [4] => four
    [1] => one
    [2] => two
    [0] => three
)

$arr1 = array(4 => "four", 1 => "one", 2 => "two");
$arr2 = array("three", "four", "five");
$arr2 += $arr1;
print_r ($arr2);

// outputs:
Array
(
    [0] => three
    [1] => four
    [2] => five
    [4] => four
)