Have you had experience working with columns that are automatically created during data processing?

Yes, in PHP when working with data, for example, when using ORM or when dynamically forming arrays and objects, there are often situations where columns (fields) are created automatically during data processing. For instance, when fetching from a database using PDO or ORM, if the query includes computed fields or aliases, they are automatically added to the result set.

Also, when working with arrays where the data structure is formed on the fly, you can dynamically add new keys (columns) to arrays, which allows flexible data processing without a rigid schema.

Example of dynamically adding a field to an array:

$data = [
    ['id' => 1, 'name' => 'Alice'],
    ['id' => 2, 'name' => 'Bob'],
];

foreach ($data as &$row) {
    $row['fullName'] = $row['name'] . ' Smith'; // adding the fullName column
}

print_r($data);