It is hard to sort this array

jaddy

Hi,

I got an array that I couldn't be able to sort. The array is something like:

ar[0]: drwxrwxrwx 524 01-May-2003 index.html
ar[1]: drwx-w-r-- 554532 01-May-2003 sport.html
ar[2]: dr-xr--xr-- 5008 01-May-2003 debet.html
ar[3]: drwxrwxr-x 1232 01-May-2003 My File.html

I want to sort this array depending on the file name so that it should be sorted as:

dr-xr--xr-- 5008 01-May-2003 debet.html
drwxrwxrwx 524 01-May-2003 index.html
drwxrwxr-x 1232 01-May-2003 My File.html
drwx-w-r-- 554532 01-May-2003 sport.html

But unfortunitly, it is sorted depending on the permission and not the file name.

I've stripped out everything except the file name, then I do sort, but this is not what I need, what I need is sorting the whole array

Thx

zingbats

why not enter it into a MySQL table. Then query it and sort via name or whatever

Weedpacket

[man]usort[/man] is your friend. Once you can figure out how to compare two entries to see which one should be first (e.g. "take the two strings, strip off everything but the filename, and compare what's left"), you can put that in a function and use usort to apply it to the whole array.

jaddy

Thank you,

I've found another solution which (as I think) is more easier than either using MySQL table or using usort() function.

What I did exactly is:

1- Taking away the last part of the string (the file name) in the whole array, and save it in an array called $part[].
2- Lower case it (because if I didn't do that, 'B' Will be before 'a').
3- I have added the new string I've already took before the origin string in the whole array as:
$part[$i] = $part[$i].$array[$i];
4- I have sorted the array using the function sort().
5- I've stripped away the new string from the origin string in the whole array.

And that's it.
😃

Weedpacket

Hmm. a usort() solution

function compare_dir_entries($a,$b)
{
// Get the filename ...
preg_match('/..........\s+\d+\s+\d\d-\w+-\d{4}\s+(.*)$/', $a, $m);
$afile = $m[1];
preg_match('/..........\s+\d+\s+\d\d-\w+-\d{4}\s+(.*)$/', $b, $m);
$bfile = $m[1];
// ... or however you're doing it

return strcasecmp($afile,$bfile);
}

usort($array, 'compare_dir_entries');