The method of using a foreach loop to remove duplicate elements from a PHP array is as follows: traverse the array, and if the element already exists and the current position is not the first occurrence, delete it. For example, if there are duplicate records in the database query results, you can use this method to remove them and obtain results without duplicate records.

The performance comparison of PHP array key value flipping methods shows that the array_flip() function performs better than the for loop in large arrays (more than 1 million elements) and takes less time. The for loop method of manually flipping key values ??takes a relatively long time.

Methods for deep copying arrays in PHP include: JSON encoding and decoding using json_decode and json_encode. Use array_map and clone to make deep copies of keys and values. Use serialize and unserialize for serialization and deserialization.

Multidimensional array sorting can be divided into single column sorting and nested sorting. Single column sorting can use the array_multisort() function to sort by columns; nested sorting requires a recursive function to traverse the array and sort it. Practical cases include sorting by product name and compound sorting by sales volume and price.

PHP's array_group_by function can group elements in an array based on keys or closure functions, returning an associative array where the key is the group name and the value is an array of elements belonging to the group.

The best practice for performing an array deep copy in PHP is to use json_decode(json_encode($arr)) to convert the array to a JSON string and then convert it back to an array. Use unserialize(serialize($arr)) to serialize the array to a string and then deserialize it to a new array. Use the RecursiveIteratorIterator to recursively traverse multidimensional arrays.

Complexity of PHP array deduplication algorithm: array_unique(): O(n) array_flip()+array_keys(): O(n) foreach loop: O(n^2)

PHP's array_group() function can be used to group an array by a specified key to find duplicate elements. This function works through the following steps: Use key_callback to specify the grouping key. Optionally use value_callback to determine grouping values. Count grouped elements and identify duplicates. Therefore, the array_group() function is very useful for finding and processing duplicate elements.