How to sort an array of associative arrays by value of a given key in PHP?

Question

Given this array:

$inventory = array(

   array(\"type\"=>\"fruit\", \"price\"=>3.50),
   array(\"type\"=>\"milk\", \"price\"=>2.90),
   array(\"         


        

Answer 1

Since your array elements are arrays themselves with string keys, your best bet is to define a custom comparison function. It's pretty quick and easy to do. Try this:

function invenDescSort($item1,$item2)
{
    if ($item1['price'] == $item2['price']) return 0;
    return ($item1['price'] < $item2['price']) ? 1 : -1;
}
usort($inventory,'invenDescSort');
print_r($inventory);

Produces the following:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [type] => pork
            [price] => 5.43
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [type] => fruit
            [price] => 3.5
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [type] => milk
            [price] => 2.9
        )

)

Answer 2

$arr1 = array(

    array('id'=>1,'name'=>'aA','cat'=>'cc'),
    array('id'=>2,'name'=>'aa','cat'=>'dd'),
    array('id'=>3,'name'=>'bb','cat'=>'cc'),
    array('id'=>4,'name'=>'bb','cat'=>'dd')
);

$result1 = array_msort($arr1, array('name'=>SORT_DESC);

$result2 = array_msort($arr1, array('cat'=>SORT_ASC);

$result3 = array_msort($arr1, array('name'=>SORT_DESC, 'cat'=>SORT_ASC));


function array_msort($array, $cols)
{
    $colarr = array();
    foreach ($cols as $col => $order) {
    $colarr[$col] = array();
    foreach ($array as $k => $row) { $colarr[$col]['_'.$k] = strtolower($row[$col]); }
}

$eval = 'array_multisort(';

foreach ($cols as $col => $order) {
    $eval .= '$colarr[\''.$col.'\'],'.$order.',';
}

$eval = substr($eval,0,-1).');';
eval($eval);
$ret = array();
foreach ($colarr as $col => $arr) {
    foreach ($arr as $k => $v) {
        $k = substr($k,1);
        if (!isset($ret[$k])) $ret[$k] = $array[$k];
        $ret[$k][$col] = $array[$k][$col];
    }
}
return $ret;


} 

Answer 3

Complete Dynamic Function I jumped here for associative array sorting and found this amazing function on http://php.net/manual/en/function.sort.php. This function is very dynamic that sort in ascending and descending order with specified key.

Simple function to sort an array by a specific key. Maintains index association

<?php

function array_sort($array, $on, $order=SORT_ASC)
{
    $new_array = array();
    $sortable_array = array();

    if (count($array) > 0) {
        foreach ($array as $k => $v) {
            if (is_array($v)) {
                foreach ($v as $k2 => $v2) {
                    if ($k2 == $on) {
                        $sortable_array[$k] = $v2;
                    }
                }
            } else {
                $sortable_array[$k] = $v;
            }
        }

        switch ($order) {
            case SORT_ASC:
                asort($sortable_array);
            break;
            case SORT_DESC:
                arsort($sortable_array);
            break;
        }

        foreach ($sortable_array as $k => $v) {
            $new_array[$k] = $array[$k];
        }
    }

    return $new_array;
}

$people = array(
    12345 => array(
        'id' => 12345,
        'first_name' => 'Joe',
        'surname' => 'Bloggs',
        'age' => 23,
        'sex' => 'm'
    ),
    12346 => array(
        'id' => 12346,
        'first_name' => 'Adam',
        'surname' => 'Smith',
        'age' => 18,
        'sex' => 'm'
    ),
    12347 => array(
        'id' => 12347,
        'first_name' => 'Amy',
        'surname' => 'Jones',
        'age' => 21,
        'sex' => 'f'
    )
);

print_r(array_sort($people, 'age', SORT_DESC)); // Sort by oldest first
print_r(array_sort($people, 'surname', SORT_ASC)); // Sort by surname

Answer 4

You can use usort with anonymous function, e.g.

usort($inventory, function ($a, $b) { return strnatcmp($a['price'], $b['price']); });

Answer 5

For PHP 7 and later versions.

/**
 * A method for sorting associative arrays by a key and a direction.
 * Direction can be ASC or DESC.
 *
 * @param $array
 * @param $key
 * @param $direction
 * @return mixed $array
 */
function sortAssociativeArrayByKey($array, $key, $direction){

    switch ($direction){
        case "ASC":
            usort($array, function ($first, $second) use ($key) {
                return $first[$key] <=> $second[$key];
            });
            break;
        case "DESC":
            usort($array, function ($first, $second) use ($key) {
                return $second[$key] <=> $first[$key];
            });
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }

    return $array;
}

Usage:

$inventory = sortAssociativeArrayByKey($inventory, "price", "ASC");

Answer 6

This function is re-usable:

function usortarr(&$array, $key, $callback = 'strnatcasecmp') {
    uasort($array, function($a, $b) use($key, $callback) {
        return call_user_func($callback, $a[$key], $b[$key]);
    });
}

It works well on string values by default, but you'll have to sub the callback for a number comparison function if all your values are numbers.