Naturally sort a subset of data within a multidimensional array

Question

I have this multidimensional result array in php. I want to sort this array by the values of [name] without using foreach loop.

Array has to sorted by name.

Array ( [result] => Array ( [projects] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [name] => Project-3 [releases] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 752676125 ) ) ) [1] => Array ( [name] => Project-1 [releases] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 752676126 ) ) ) [2] => Array ( [name] => Project-2 [releases] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 752676127 ) ) ) ) ) )

lol - without foreach loop?? And how do you think php sorting functions work? Foreach or for or while. — Mr.TK
– Mr.TK, Commented Apr 10, 2014 at 5:30
@Mr.TK Umm we have sorting functions like sort, usort, ksort etc., just saying. — AyB
– AyB, Commented Apr 10, 2014 at 5:33
@Mr.TK In php array can be sort without foreach loop using sort functions like sort, ksort, u sort, asort, arsort... — Nag
– Nag, Commented Apr 10, 2014 at 5:36

Dushyant Joshi · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-10 06:05:34Z

First of all extract $mult_arry['result']['projects'] and run the sorting function as follows.

<?php function msort($array, $key, $sort_flags = SORT_REGULAR) { if (is_array($array) && count($array) > 0) { if (!empty($key)) { $mapping = array(); foreach ($array as $k => $v) { $sort_key = ''; if (!is_array($key)) { $sort_key = $v[$key]; } else { // @TODO This should be fixed, now it will be sorted as string foreach ($key as $key_key) { $sort_key .= $v[$key_key]; } $sort_flags = SORT_STRING; } $mapping[$k] = $sort_key; } asort($mapping, $sort_flags); $sorted = array(); foreach ($mapping as $k => $v) { $sorted[] = $array[$k]; } return $sorted; } } return $array; } $mult_arry=array('result'=>array('projects'=>array( array('name'=>'Project-3','releases'=>array(array('id' => 752676125))), array('name'=>'Project-1','releases'=>array(array('id' => 752676126))), array('name'=>'Project-2','releases'=>array(array('id' => 752676127))) ))); $mult_arry_extracted=$mult_arry['result']['projects']; echo "<pre>"; print_r($mult_arry_extracted); $mult_arry_sorted_byname = msort($mult_arry_extracted, array('name')); print_r($mult_arry_sorted_byname); echo "</pre>"; ?>

More information here

mickmackusa · Accepted Answer · 2025-01-30 12:15:59Z

Because the level being sorted consists of data sets with same number of elements and the same parent level keys (name and releases), you can achieve a "REGULAR" (not "NATURAL") sort with plain ol' sort(). Demo

sort($array['result']['projects']); var_export($array);

For a natural sort with usort(), call strnatcmp(). Demo

usort( $array['result']['projects'], fn($a, $b) => strnatcmp($a['name'], $b['name']) );

For a natural sort with array_multisort(), use the SORT_NATURAL constant. Demo

array_multisort( array_column($array['result']['projects'], 'name'), SORT_ASC, SORT_NATURAL, $array['result']['projects'] );

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