array_pad()

array_pad() — Pad array to the specified length with a value.

Built-in function of PHP 8.5. The manual lists it as available in PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8. This page is the reference card: signature, parameters and return value, plus the changelog and the example the manual provides.

What it does

array_pad() returns a copy of the array padded to size specified by length with value value. If length is positive then the array is padded on the right, if it's negative then on the left. If the absolute value of length is less than or equal to the length of the array then no padding takes place.

Signature

array_pad(array $array, int $length, mixed $value): array

Parameters

Parameter	Type	What it takes
$array	array	Initial array of values to pad.
$length	int	New size of the array.
$value	mixed	Value to pad if array is less than length.

Return value

Returns a copy of the array padded to size specified by length with value value. If length is positive then the array is padded on the right, if it's negative then on the left. If the absolute value of length is less than or equal to the length of the array then no padding takes place.

Example

A runnable snippet:

$input = array(12, 10, 9); $result = array_pad($input, 5, 0); // result is array(12, 10, 9, 0, 0) echo join(', ', $result), PHP_EOL; $result = array_pad($input, -7, -1); // result is array(-1, -1, -1, -1, 12, 10, 9) echo join(', ', $result), PHP_EOL; $result = array_pad($input, 2, "noop"); // not padded echo join(', ', $result), PHP_EOL;

Changelog

Version	Change
8.3.0	Prior to 8.3, only 1048576 elements could be added at once. Now it is limited only by the maximum size of an array instead.