Add Elements to Beginning of Array with array_unshift()

Code

<?php

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2026 Jeffery L. Paris <jparis@phpog.com>.
 * Free for personal and internal use. Paid project use requires visible credit
 * to Jeffery L. Paris. Corporate use requires a paid license fee unless a
 * separate written license states otherwise.
 */

/**
 * Add Elements to Beginning of Array with array_unshift().
 *
 * Purpose:
 * Prepends scalar values to an indexed array.
 *
 * @param array $watch_list Existing watch list values.
 * @param array $priority_values Values to place at the beginning.
 * @return array Updated list and count.
 */
function ogSnippetArrayUnshift(array $watch_list, array $priority_values): array {
	$list = array();

	foreach ($watch_list as $watch_value) {
		if (is_scalar($watch_value) === true) {
			$watch_value = trim((string) $watch_value);

			if ($watch_value !== '') {
				$list[] = $watch_value;
			}
		}
	}

	$prepend_values = array();

	foreach ($priority_values as $priority_value) {
		if (is_scalar($priority_value) === true) {
			$priority_value = trim((string) $priority_value);

			if ($priority_value !== '') {
				$prepend_values[] = $priority_value;
			}
		}
	}

	if (count($prepend_values) > 0) {
		array_unshift($list, ...$prepend_values);
	}

	return array(
		'watch_list' => $list,
		'count' => count($list)
	);
}

$unshift_report = ogSnippetArrayUnshift(
	array('LV-426 sweep', 'Cylon signal trace'),
	array('Stargate iris check')
);

echo 'First watch item: '.$unshift_report['watch_list'][0];