Sort array - that specific values will be first

Question

I have a array. for example:

   array(\"Apple\", \"Orange\", \"Banana\", \"Melon\");

i want to sort the array that first will be \"orange\

Answer 1

$paths = array_merge(
    array_intersect(["Orange", "Melon"], ["Apple", "Orange", "Banana", "Melon"]),
    array_diff(["Apple", "Orange", "Banana", "Melon"], ["Orange", "Melon"])
);

Answer 2

Another solution; using a custom function to move an element to the beginning of an array

function __unshift(&$array, $value){
    $key = array_search($value, $array);
    if($key) unset($array[$key]);
    array_unshift($array, $value);  
    return $array;
}

$a = array("Apple", "Orange", "Banana", "Melon");
__unshift($a, "Melon");
__unshift($a, "Orange");
print_r($a);

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => Orange
    [1] => Melon
    [2] => Apple
    [3] => Banana
)

Demo

Or you may use the following to reorder an array using another array having reordered index

function __reorder(&$a, &$b){
    $c = array();
    foreach($b as $index){
        array_push($c, $a[$index]);
    }
    return $c;
}

// the original array
$a = array("Apple", "Orange", "Banana", "Melon");
// an array with reordered index 
$b = array(1, 3, 0, 2);
$c = __reorder($a, $b);
print_r($c);

Demo

Answer 3

What you looking for is usort, you can specify custom function to sort the array

example:

function cmp($a, $b)
{
    if ($a == "Orange") {
        return 1;
    }
    if ($b == "Orange") {
        return -1;
    }

    return strcmp($a, $b);// or any other sort you want
}

$arr = array("Apple", "Orange", "Banana", "Melon");

usort($arr, "cmp");

Answer 4

Here's a solution that's longer than the others provided, but more flexible. You can easily expand or change the array of items that you want sorted first.

$array = array("Apple", "Orange", "Banana", "Melon");
$sort_first = array("Orange", "Melon");

usort($array, function ($a, $b) use ($sort_first) {
    $order_a = array_search( $a, $sort_first );
    $order_b = array_search( $b, $sort_first );

    if ($order_a === false && $order_b !== false) {
        return 1;
    } elseif ($order_b === false && $order_a !== false) {
        return -1;
    } elseif ($order_a === $order_b) {
        return $a <=> $b;
    } else {
        return $order_a <=> $order_b;
    }
});

// Result: $array = array("Orange", "Melon", "Apple", "Banana");

The function can also be easily altered if the items you're sorting aren't strings, such as arrays or objects. Here's an example that sorts an array of objects:

// Assuming $array is an array of users with a getName method
$sort_first = array("Sam", "Chris");

usort($array, function ($a, $b) use ($sort_first) {
    $order_a = array_search( $a->getName(), $sort_first );
    $order_b = array_search( $b->getName(), $sort_first );

    if ($order_a === false && $order_b !== false) {
        return 1;
    } elseif ($order_b === false && $order_a !== false) {
        return -1;
    } elseif ($order_a === $order_b) {
        return $a->getName() <=> $b->getName();
    } else {
        return $order_a <=> $order_b;
    }
});

// $array will now have users Sam and Chris sorted first,
// and the rest in alphabetical order by name