Further Modification on the array_push_associative function
1.  removes seemingly useless array_unshift function that generates php warning
2.  adds support for non-array arguments

<?
// Append associative array elements
function array_push_associative(&$arr) {
   $args = func_get_args();
   foreach ($args as $arg) {
       if (is_array($arg)) {
           foreach ($arg as $key => $value) {
               $arr[$key] = $value;
               $ret++;
           }
       }else{
           $arr[$arg] = "";
       }
   }
   return $ret;
}

$items = array("here" => "now");
$moreitems = array("this" => "that");

$theArray = array("where" => "do we go", "here" => "we are today");
echo array_push_associative($theArray, $items, $moreitems, "five") . ' is the size of $theArray.<br />';
    
echo "<pre>";
print_r($theArray);
echo "</pre>";

?>

Yields: 

4 is the size of $theArray.
Array
(
    [where] => do we go
    [here] => now
    [this] => that
    [five] => 
)