array_chunk

Tried to use an example below (#56022) for array_chunk_fixed that would "partition" or divide an array into a desired number of split lists -- a useful procedure for "chunking" up objects or text items into columns, or partitioning any type of data resource. However, there seems to be a flaw with array_chunk_fixed — for instance, try it with a nine item list and with four partitions. It results in 3 entries with 3 items, then a blank array.

So, here is the output of my own dabbling on the matter:

<?php

function partition( $list, $p ) {
    $listlen = count( $list );
    $partlen = floor( $listlen / $p );
    $partrem = $listlen % $p;
    $partition = array();
    $mark = 0;
    for ($px = 0; $px < $p; $px++) {
        $incr = ($px < $partrem) ? $partlen + 1 : $partlen;
        $partition[$px] = array_slice( $list, $mark, $incr );
        $mark += $incr;
    }
    return $partition;
}

$citylist = array( "Black Canyon City", "Chandler", "Flagstaff", "Gilbert", "Glendale", "Globe", "Mesa", "Miami",
                   "Phoenix", "Peoria", "Prescott", "Scottsdale", "Sun City", "Surprise", "Tempe", "Tucson", "Wickenburg" );
print_r( partition( $citylist, 3 ) );

?>

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => Black Canyon City
            [1] => Chandler
            [2] => Flagstaff
            [3] => Gilbert
            [4] => Glendale
            [5] => Globe
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => Mesa
            [1] => Miami
            [2] => Phoenix
            [3] => Peoria
            [4] => Prescott
            [5] => Scottsdale
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [0] => Sun City
            [1] => Surprise
            [2] => Tempe
            [3] => Tucson
            [4] => Wickenburg
        )

)

To reverse an array_chunk, use array_merge, passing the chunks as a variadic:

<?php
$array = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9];

$chunks = array_chunk($array, 3);
// $chunks = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]]

$de_chunked = array_merge(…$chunks);
// $de_chunked = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
?>

If you just want to grab one chunk from an array, you should use array_slice().

Here my array_chunk_values( ) with values distributed by lines (columns are balanced as much as possible) :

<?php
    function array_chunk_vertical($data, $columns) {
        $n = count($data) ;
        $per_column = floor($n / $columns) ;
        $rest = $n % $columns ;

        // The map
        $per_columns = array( ) ;
        for ( $i = 0 ; $i < $columns ; $i++ ) {
            $per_columns[$i] = $per_column + ($i < $rest ? 1 : 0) ;
        }

        $tabular = array( ) ;
        foreach ( $per_columns as $rows ) {
            for ( $i = 0 ; $i < $rows ; $i++ ) {
                $tabular[$i][ ] = array_shift($data) ;
            }
        }

        return $tabular ;
    }

    header('Content-Type: text/plain') ;

    $data = array_chunk_vertical(range(1, 31), 7) ;
    foreach ( $data as $row