How do I add this element onto an array?

Hi There -

I have three mysql tables. Am performing a join on two of them on an order_id then creating an array of arrays from each row. (Each row getting its own array.) The result is a series of arrays whose prin_r looks like this...

newitems = Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [buyer_name] => mary
            [message] => yo!
            [item_title] => door
            [nid] => 3539
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [buyer_name] => jane
            [message] => yo!
            [item_title] => screen
            [nid] => 3540
        )

)

Nothing terribly exciting and that part's working great.

On the third table, if a condition is met (if there exists an 'nid' in the array) then I do a second query to get another number associated with the nid, the refid. This is in a third table.

If there exists a refid, then I need to add it to the listed array of arrays so it would look like this:

newitems = Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [buyer_name] => mary
            [message] => yo!
            [item_title] => door
            [nid] => 3539
            [refid] => 9397  <-------------- refid needs to go here!
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [buyer_name] => jane
            [message] => yo!
            [item_title] => screen
            [nid] => 3540
            [refid] => 9395 <-------------- refid!
        )

)

so I did a foreach loop over the item arrays...

<?php
foreach ($newitems as $newitem){
  if ($newitem[nid]) {
    //DB QUERY GOES HERE to get $refid
    
      $newitem[refid] = $refid; 
      
    //print_r $newitem GOES HERE  <----------first print_r
  }
} 
//print_r $newitems GOES HERE  <----------second print_r
return $newitems
?>

Here's what's weird: if I do a print_r on the $newitem arrays inside the foreach (the first print_r), so that each one gets printed out separately, then refid is added to each individual array. That's exactly what they're supposed to do.

But they don't stick! When I print_r the $newitems array (the second print_r) - no refid! It's the same as before I did the foreach loop to add the refid. It's just like the first example above!

Gah!

What am I doing wrong? I've been fiddling with this for more than a day and I'm flummoxed.

I'll be happy to scrap the entire approach I'm using in favor of one that works. Is there a way I can include the addition of the refid during the while loop that's parsing through the first join query? Wouldn't need a foreach then.

I'd love to be able to generalize, how do you address a sequence of arrays when you don't know the middle term? (ie: $newitems[????][refid])