The union operator did not behave as I thought it would on first glance. It implements a union (of sorts) based on the keys of the array, not on the values.
For instance:
<?php
$a = array('one','two');
$b=array('three','four','five');
echo '$a + $b : ';
print_r ($a + $b);
echo "array_unique(array_merge($a,$b)):";
print_r (array_unique(array_merge($a,$b)));
?>
//output
$a + $b : Array
(
[0] => one
[1] => two
[2] => five
)
array_unique(array_merge(Array,Array)):Array
(
[0] => one
[1] => two
[2] => three
[3] => four
[4] => five
)
