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');//not a union of arrays' valuesecho '$a + $b : ';print_r ($a + $b);//a union of arrays' valuesecho "array_unique(array_merge($a,$b)):";// cribbed from http://oreilly.com/catalog/progphp/chapter/ch05.htmlprint_r (array_unique(array_merge($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)