copy elements in foreach if there are no more than 3

I use a regular slick slider on the page

<!-- begin snippet: js hide: false console: true babel: false -->

<!-- language: lang-js -->

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('.slider-images').slick({
        autoplay: true,
        slidesToShow: 3,
        arrows: false
    });
});

<!-- language: lang-css -->

.slider-images {width:100%;margin:0px auto;}
.slider-images .slider-image {position:relative;}
.slider-images .slick-slide {margin:10px;}
.slider-images .slick-slide img {width:100%;}

<!-- language: lang-html -->

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/slick-carousel@1.8.1/slick/slick.css" rel="stylesheet">

<div class="slider-images">
        <div class="slider-image">
            <img src="https://i.imgur.com/CUmIpxR.jpg">
        </div>
        <div class="slider-image">
            <img src="https://i.imgur.com/g7aX7wR.jpg">
        </div>
        <div class="slider-image">
            <img src="https://i.imgur.com/cPToo7F.jpg">
        </div>
        <div class="slider-image">
            <img src="https://i.imgur.com/qVbD6iK.png">
        </div>
</div>

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/jquery.slick/1.4.1/slick.min.js"></script>

<!-- end snippet -->

I use php to display images in this slider

<div class="slider-images">
    <?php foreach ($images as $image) { ?>
        <div class="slider-image">
            <img src="<?= $image->url?>">
        </div>
    <?php } ?>
</div>

The following question follows, in my slider settings there are 3 pictures for slides, that is, for it to work, I need to upload 4 pictures

But I may have such a situation that I will upload 1 or 2 pictures

How can I make it so that when I upload 1 image on the PHP side, then 3 more images will be created during the output. The same thing if I upload 2 pictures, it should copy 2 more

Accordingly, if I myself upload 4 pictures or more, then nothing needs to be done

It turns out that I need to count the number of elements, and if there are less than 4 to copy in the for loop

If there is only one image, then it seems not so difficult, but what if I have 2 images, let's say? I then need to make 2 copies of the first image, and it's not all clear how to do it

<div class="slider-images">
    <?php if (count($images) < 4) { ?>
        
    <?php } else { ?>
        <?php foreach ($images as $image) { ?>
            <div class="slider-image">
                <img src="<?= $image->url?>">
            </div>
        <?php } ?>
    <?php } ?>
</div>

And is it possible to do cloning in javascript itself?

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('.slider-images ').slick({
        autoplay: true,
        slidesToShow: 3,
        arrows: false
    });
});

You can duplicate images with array_merge function and then slice array in case there are more than 4 images.

<div class="slider-images">
    <?php if (count($images) < 4) { ?>
        <?php
        $images = array_merge($images, $images);
        $images = array_merge($images, $images);
        $images = array_slice($images, 0, 4);

        foreach ($images as $image) { ?>
            <div class="slider-image">
                <img src="<?= $image->url ?>" alt="<?= $image->name ?>">
            </div>
        <?php }
        ?>
    <?php } else { ?>
        <?php foreach ($images as $image) { ?>
            <div class="slider-image">
                <img src="<?= $image->url ?>" alt="<?= $image->name ?>">
            </div>
        <?php } ?>
    <?php } ?>
</div>