How do I Sort a Multidimensional Array in PHP [dup

Question

This question already has an answer here:

• How can I sort arrays and data in PHP? 9 answers

I have CSV data loaded into a multidimensional array. In this way each "row" is a record and each "column" contains the same type of data. I am using the function below to load my CSV file.

function f_parse_csv($file, $longest, $delimiter)
{
  $mdarray = array();
  $file    = fopen($file, "r");
  while ($line = fgetcsv($file, $longest, $delimiter))
  {
    array_push($mdarray, $line);
  }
  fclose($file);
  return $mdarray;
}

I need to be able to specify a column to sort so that it rearranges the rows. One of the columns contains date information in the format of Y-m-d H:i:s and I would like to be able to sort with the most recent date being the first row.

Answer 1

I know it's 2 years since this question was asked and answered, but here's another function that sorts a two-dimensional array. It accepts a variable number of arguments, allowing you to pass in more than one key (ie column name) to sort by. PHP 5.3 required.

function sort_multi_array ($array, $key)
{
  $keys = array();
  for ($i=1;$i<func_num_args();$i++) {
    $keys[$i-1] = func_get_arg($i);
  }

  // create a custom search function to pass to usort
  $func = function ($a, $b) use ($keys) {
    for ($i=0;$i<count($keys);$i++) {
      if ($a[$keys[$i]] != $b[$keys[$i]]) {
        return ($a[$keys[$i]] < $b[$keys[$i]]) ? -1 : 1;
      }
    }
    return 0;
  };

  usort($array, $func);

  return $array;
}

Try it here: http://www.exorithm.com/algorithm/view/sort_multi_array

Answer 2

You can use array_multisort()

Try something like this:

foreach ($mdarray as $key => $row) {
    // replace 0 with the field's index/key
    $dates[$key]  = $row[0];
}

array_multisort($dates, SORT_DESC, $mdarray);

For PHP >= 5.5.0 just extract the column to sort by. No need for the loop:

array_multisort(array_column($mdarray, 0), SORT_DESC, $mdarray);

Answer 3

With usort. Here's a generic solution, that you can use for different columns:

class TableSorter {
  protected $column;
  function __construct($column) {
    $this->column = $column;
  }
  function sort($table) {
    usort($table, array($this, 'compare'));
    return $table;
  }
  function compare($a, $b) {
    if ($a[$this->column] == $b[$this->column]) {
      return 0;
    }
    return ($a[$this->column] < $b[$this->column]) ? -1 : 1;
  }
}

To sort by first column:

$sorter = new TableSorter(0); // sort by first column
$mdarray = $sorter->sort($mdarray);

Answer 4

Multiple row sorting using a closure

Here's another approach using uasort() and an anonymous callback function (closure). I've used that function regularly. PHP 5.3 required – no more dependencies!

/**
 * Sorting array of associative arrays - multiple row sorting using a closure.
 * See also: http://the-art-of-web.com/php/sortarray/
 *
 * @param array $data input-array
 * @param string|array $fields array-keys
 * @license Public Domain
 * @return array
 */
function sortArray( $data, $field ) {
    $field = (array) $field;
    uasort( $data, function($a, $b) use($field) {
        $retval = 0;
        foreach( $field as $fieldname ) {
            if( $retval == 0 ) $retval = strnatcmp( $a[$fieldname], $b[$fieldname] );
        }
        return $retval;
    } );
    return $data;
}

/* example */
$data = array(
    array( "firstname" => "Mary", "lastname" => "Johnson", "age" => 25 ),
    array( "firstname" => "Amanda", "lastname" => "Miller", "age" => 18 ),
    array( "firstname" => "James", "lastname" => "Brown", "age" => 31 ),
    array( "firstname" => "Patricia", "lastname" => "Williams", "age" => 7 ),
    array( "firstname" => "Michael", "lastname" => "Davis", "age" => 43 ),
    array( "firstname" => "Sarah", "lastname" => "Miller", "age" => 24 ),
    array( "firstname" => "Patrick", "lastname" => "Miller", "age" => 27 )
);

$data = sortArray( $data, 'age' );
$data = sortArray( $data, array( 'lastname', 'firstname' ) );

Answer 5

The "Usort" function is your answer.
http://php.net/usort