insert associative data to array of associative data in php

Question

I'm trying to find out which is the correct way to add associative data to an array of associative data.

I have something like this:

$values = array('data1' => $data1, 'data2' => $data2, => 'data3' => $data3 );

now what if I want to add for example $data4 as 'data4' to $values?

Should I use array_merge() ?

like $values = array_merge($values, array('data4', $data4));

or is there a better / more correct way?

Answer 1

You could keep it simple :

$value['data4'] = $data4;