php - Pass array as var -

i have function using based on example @ https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-list-table-example/

this sets array this...

 var $example_data = array(             array(                 'id'        => 1,                 'title'     => '300',                 'rating'    => 'r',                 'director'  => 'zach snyder'             ),             array(                 'id'        => 7,                 'title'     => 'watchmen',                 'rating'    => 'r',                 'director'  => 'zach snyder'             )         ); 

i trying replace own function creates array this...

function create_array()         {             $count1 = $wpdb->get_results("select count(*) totalvaluecount,  value thevalue, date(date_created) thedate                 wp_rg_lead inner join wp_rg_lead_detail on wp_rg_lead.id = wp_rg_lead_detail.lead_id                 wp_rg_lead.form_id = '47' , date_created between date_sub(now(), interval 7 day)                 , now() , field_number = '18' group thevalue, thedate");              $values = array();              foreach ($count1 $page) {                 $values = array_merge($values, array(array( 'rep' => $page->thevalue, $page->thedate => $page->totalvaluecount,                 )));             }              function in_array_r($needle, $haystack, $strict = false)                 {                     foreach ($haystack $item)                         {                             if (($strict ? $item === $needle : $item == $needle) || (is_array($item) && in_array_r($needle, $item, $strict)))                                 {                                     return true;                                 }                         }                     return false;                 }              $codes = array();             $counter = -1;              foreach($values $key => $value)                 {                     if(!in_array_r($values[$key]["rep"], $codes, true))                         {                             $codes[++$counter] = array();                                 foreach($values[$key] $subkey => $subvalue)                                     {                                         $codes[$counter][$subkey] = $subvalue;                                     }                         }                     else                         {                             foreach($values[$key] $subkey => $subvalue)                                 {                                     if($subkey != "rep" && $subkey != "id")                                         {                                             $codes[$counter][$subkey] = $subvalue;                                         }                                 }                         }                 }          } 

how can modify function pass array in same way original?