how to alphabatize a text file?

[Anon]

i'm new to php and want to do the following..

i have a form that people fill out and it creates a text file...lets say that text file looks like this

Statename, ContactInfo, Topic
Statename2, ContactInfo, Topic2

well, then when each new entry is created, i would like to have it alphabatized by statename. Right now it just appends the new information to the end of the file. Is it possible to do something like this in php?

[Anon]

The easiest way will be to use any database :-) - usually it is not problem to sort anything then. In your case all you can sort (as far as I know) is an array, and, unfortunately, only single-dim array. May be there is a way for multi-dim arrays, I don't know - I could not figure it out. So, you create array of your "Statename" (if you're sorting by it), sort it (see manual about arrays) - and write a new file according to the ordered array. When you're finished, you can rename your file as you wish and overwrite old one. But it is a boring way, use database if possible!