How can I sort multidimensional array through key

Question

Array
(
    [12] => Array
        (
            [id] => 12
            [name] => Car
            [children] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 14
                            [name] => Volvo
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 15
                            [name] => Mercedes-Benz
                        )

                )

        )

    [13] => Array
        (
            [id] => 13
            [name] => Manga
            [children] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 16
                            [name] => Naruto
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 17
                            [name] => Hunter X Hunter
                        )

                )

        )

    [18] => Array
        (
            [id] => 18
            [name] => aa
            [children] => Array
                (
                )

        )



)

Guys I want to sort the values of this array, i want to sort it by key and the key is 'name'. This should sort the first level and the second level thru key 'name'.

This array i put in print_r() so it looks like this. The array is not fix so i can add in the future.

So after sorting the final value of the array is...

Array
(

    [18] => Array
        (
            [id] => 18
            [name] => aa
            [children] => Array
                (
                )

        )

    [12] => Array
        (
            [id] => 12
            [name] => Car
            [children] => Array
                (
            [0] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 15
                            [name] => Mercedes-Benz
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 14
                            [name] => Volvo
                        )

            )

        )

    [13] => Array
        (
            [id] => 13
            [name] => Manga
            [children] => Array
                (
            [0] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 17
                            [name] => Hunter X Hunter
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 16
                            [name] => Naruto
                        )

                )

        )
)

And this is the array in code.

$categories = array(
                12 => 
                    array('id' =>12, 
                              'name' => 'Car',
                                       'children' => 
                                        array(
                                            array('id' => 14,
                                                      'name' => 'volvo'
                                            )
                                        ),
                                        array(
                                            array('id' => 15,
                                                      'name' => 'Mercedez-Benz'
                                            )
                                        )
                            ),

                13 => 
                    array('id' =>13, 
                              'name' => 'Manga',
                                       'children' => 
                                        array(
                                            array('id' => 16,
                                                      'name' => 'Naruto'
                                            )
                                        ),
                                        array(
                                            array('id' => 17,
                                                      'name' => 'Hunter X Hunter'
                                            )
                                        )
                            ),

                18=>
                    array('id' => 18, 
                              'name'=> 'aa', 
                                      'children' => array())


                );

echo "<pre>";

print_r($categories);

You can use http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-walk-recursive.php and save the the data in a new vector. — Alexandru Chelariu, Nov 27 '12 at 13:23
possible duplicate of [Sort arrays into multidimensional array by key](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/904718/sort-arrays-into-multidimensional-array-by-key) — JB King, Nov 27 '12 at 18:00

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

0

the 'name' is not your real 'Key', just saying, because 'key' in Php normally means the name of your array, like '18' and '12' in your array and so on, like this:

<?php
    $fruits = array("d"=>"lemon", "a"=>"orange", "b"=>"banana", "c"=>"apple");
    ksort($fruits);
    foreach ($fruits as $key => $val) {
        echo "$key = $val\n";
    }
?>

in this example, the result will be:

a = orange
b = banana
c = apple
d = lemon

anyway to answer your question on how to sort it on 'name', use 'usort':

function cmp($a, $b) {
   return $a['name'] - $b['name'];
}

usort($arr,"cmp");

check out the following link for further information: How do I sort a PHP array by an element nested inside?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

Community

1
1

answered Nov 27 '12 at 13:26

Bananam00n

814
9
27

so if its not called a key then in you example "d"=>"lemon"... what is d? – Dfsafasf Sfasfdasfdasfasf Nov 27 '12 at 13:28
1

yeh you are sorting by key in the first example. I think he wants to sort by value, where the key = `name` – NappingRabbit Nov 27 '12 at 13:29
@Bananam00n no in `"d"=>"lemon"`, `d` is the key and `lemon` is the value – NappingRabbit Nov 27 '12 at 13:33
@NappingRabbit that's exactly what I ment, but I typed it wrong sorry, deleted the comment since editing wasn't allowed :-) – Bananam00n Nov 27 '12 at 13:38
what i want is to sort the value of the key – Dfsafasf Sfasfdasfdasfasf Nov 27 '12 at 13:53
then my answer should be able to help you. with the usort, you can sort on the value of the key. – Bananam00n Nov 27 '12 at 13:55

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 27 '12 at 13:28

0

if using php 5.3+ you can use closures in your code and sort like this

usort($categories,function($a,$b){
    return $a['name'] - $b['name']
}

answered Nov 27 '12 at 13:28

NappingRabbit

1,888
1
13
18

Bananam00n · Answer 3 · 2012-11-27T14:32:23.910

So,

I'm going to try and explain it better to you

your array is big, yes, but you want to sort only on the key value '[name]'. In my test I used the array you provided:

$categories = array(
            12 => 
                array('id' =>12, 
                          'name' => 'Car',
                                   'children' => 
                                    array(
                                        array('id' => 14,
                                                  'name' => 'volvo'
                                        )
                                    ),
                                    array(
                                        array('id' => 15,
                                                  'name' => 'Mercedez-Benz'
                                        )
                                    )
                        ),

            13 => 
                array('id' =>13, 
                          'name' => 'Manga',
                                   'children' => 
                                    array(
                                        array('id' => 16,
                                                  'name' => 'Naruto'
                                        )
                                    ),
                                    array(
                                        array('id' => 17,
                                                  'name' => 'Hunter X Hunter'
                                        )
                                    )
                        ),

            18=>
                array('id' => 18, 
                          'name'=> 'aa', 
                                  'children' => array())


            );

if the array is declared, you can add the usort like this:

usort($categories,"sortByName");

the first element in the above ($categories), is your array, the second element will provide the name of a function, in this case 'sortByName'.

after that, you just add a function into your code (it doesn't really matter where you put it, even if it's at the bottom of the page):

function sortByName($categories, $b) {
    return strcasecmp($categories["name"], $b["name"]);
}

Basically what this function does, is compairing your array with ...your array :) so it can sort it alfabetically by name- like you want it. sthe 'strcasecmp' is to compare your strings against eachother to sort it. not that this is case non sensitive (strcmp will be case sensitive too). I assume you don't want it to check on uppercase and so on too, otherwise the result won't be what you wanted.

when you added that code, you can just print your array again:

echo "<pre>";
print_r($categories);

your result will be:

Array
(
[0] => Array
    (
        [id] => 18
        [name] => aa
        [children] => Array
            (
            )

    )

[1] => Array
    (
        [id] => 12
        [name] => Car
        [children] => Array
            (
                [0] => Array
                    (
                        [id] => 14
                        [name] => volvo
                    )

            )

        [0] => Array
            (
                [0] => Array
                    (
                        [id] => 15
                        [name] => Mercedez-Benz
                    )

            )

    )

[2] => Array
    (
        [id] => 13
        [name] => Manga
        [children] => Array
            (
                [0] => Array
                    (
                        [id] => 16
                        [name] => Naruto
                    )

            )

        [0] => Array
            (
                [0] => Array
                    (
                        [id] => 17
                        [name] => Hunter X Hunter
                    )

            )

    )

I hope this is what you wanted. :-)

yes i know how your code works, but how can i also sort the second level of the array like sort Hunter X Hunter and Naruto — Dfsafasf Sfasfdasfdasfasf, Nov 27 '12 at 14:47
foreach($categories as $k => $v){ foreach($v as $keyv => $valuev) { if ($keyv == "children") { usort($valuev,"sortByName"); "; print_r($valuev ); } } } — Dfsafasf Sfasfdasfdasfasf, Nov 27 '12 at 15:28

How can I sort multidimensional array through key

3 Answers3