PHP - Merge duplicate array keys in a multidimensional array

Question

I have a multidimensional array called $songs, which outputs the following:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [Michael Jackson] => Thriller
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [Michael Jackson] => Rock With You
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [Teddy Pendergrass] => Love TKO
        )

    [3] => Array
        (
            [ACDC] => Back in Black
        )
)

I would like to merge the arrays which have duplicate keys, so I can get the following:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [Michael Jackson] => Array
            (
                [0] => Thriller
                [1] => Rock With You
            )
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [Teddy Pendergrass] => Love TKO
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [ACDC] => Back in Black
        )
)

How do I do this?

Bonus points for giving me the code to output the array like:

<h2>Michael Jackson</h2>
<ul>
<li>Thriller</li>
<li>Thriller</li>
</ul>

<h2>Teddy Pendergrass</h2>
<ul>
<li>Love TKO</li>
</ul>

<h2>ACDC</h2>
<ul>
<li>Back in Black</li>
</ul>

Answer 1

This should do it, it's not exactly what you want but I don't see a reason why you'd need to index the resulting array numerically, and then by artist.

$source = array(
    array('Michael Jackson' => 'Thriller'),
    array('Michael Jackson' => 'Rock With You'),
    array('Teddy Pendergrass' => 'Love TKO'),
    array( 'ACDC' => 'Back in Black')
);

$result = array();

foreach($source as $item) {
    $artist = key($item);
    $album = current($item);

    if(!isset($result[$artist])) {
        $result[$artist] = array();
    }
    $result[$artist][] = $album;
}

And you can loop the $result array and build your HTML like this:

foreach($result as $artist => $albums) {
    echo '<h2>'.$artist.'</h2>';
    echo '<ul>';
    foreach($albums as $album) {
        echo '<li>'.$album.'</li>';
    }
    echo '</ul>';
}

Which would result in a similar list that you described.