PHP Sort a multidimensional array by element conta

Question

I have an array such as:

Array
(
[0] => Array
    (
        [id] => 2
        [type] => comment
        [text] => hey
        [datetime] => 2010-05-15 11:29:45
    )

[1] => Array
    (
        [id] => 3
        [type] => status
        [text] => oi
        [datetime] => 2010-05-26 15:59:53
    )

[2] => Array
    (
        [id] => 4
        [type] => status
        [text] => yeww
        [datetime] => 2010-05-26 16:04:24
    )

)

Can anyone suggest a way to sort/order this based on the datetime element?

Answer 1

$array = Array
(
  [0] => Array
   (
    [id] => 2
    [type] => comment
    [text] => hey
    [datetime] => 2010-05-15 11:29:45
   )

 [1] => Array
  (
    [id] => 3
    [type] => status
    [text] => oi
    [datetime] => 2010-05-26 15:59:53
  )

  [2] => Array
   (
    [id] => 4
    [type] => status
    [text] => yeww
    [datetime] => 2010-05-26 16:04:24
   )

   );
   print_r($array);   
   $name = 'datetime';
   usort($array, function ($a, $b) use(&$name){
      return $a[$name] - $b[$name];});

   print_r($array);

Answer 2

http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.array-multisort.php see third example:

<?php

$data[] = array('volume' => 67, 'edition' => 2);
$data[] = array('volume' => 86, 'edition' => 1);
$data[] = array('volume' => 85, 'edition' => 6);
$data[] = array('volume' => 98, 'edition' => 2);
$data[] = array('volume' => 86, 'edition' => 6);
$data[] = array('volume' => 67, 'edition' => 7);

foreach ($data as $key => $row) {
    $volume[$key]  = $row['volume'];
    $edition[$key] = $row['edition'];
}

array_multisort($volume, SORT_DESC, $edition, SORT_ASC, $data);

?>

fyi, using a unix (seconds from 1970) or mysql timestamp (YmdHis - 20100526014500) would be be easier for the parser but i think in your case it makes no difference.

Answer 3

You can simply solve this problem using usort() with callback function. No need to write any custom function.

$your_date_field_name = 'datetime';
usort($your_given_array_name, function ($a, $b) use (&$name) {
    return strtotime($a[$name]) - strtotime($b[$name]);
});