[RESOLVED] inner array sort

[anakadote]

hello. I posted this question a little while back but didn't get any helpful responses. After many attempts I still face this challenge unsuccessful.

what i'm wondering is if there is a way to sort an array by the array values when the value is a long string of various characters. sort(), natsort(), natcasesort() don't seem to work - i alway receive a parse error.

Here's an example of the string i would like to sort:

2005-07-18,New MLX listing 573074,0.14,Rich|2005-07-05,Delete Construction Pricing on sold units ,0.25,Taylor|2005-07-13,Research RSS articles and links for myyahoo,2,Sara|2005-07-12,Updated Walnut Hollow copy and plans,.5,Rob|

what i want is after i create an array from this, divided by pipes (|), is for the values to be sorted by the dates at the beginning.

here is my code. as it stands now it says invalid foreach argument when tested.

<?php    

if($row['timeSheet'] != ''){
	$array = explode('|', rtrim($row['timeSheet'], '|'));

$array = natcasesort($array);
//print_r($array);

$i = 1;
foreach($array as $each){ 

	$info = explode(',', $each);
	$formatted=date('F d, Y', strtotime($info[0]));

		echo'<tr>
        <td valign="top" class="bodycopy">' . $formatted . '</td>
       <td colspan="2" valign="top" class="bodycopy">' . $info[1] . '</td>
       <td valign="top" class="bodycopy">' . ucwords($info[3]) . '</td>
	   <td valign="top" class="bodycopy">' . $info[2] . '</td>
	   <td valign="top" class="bodycopy"><a href="timeedit.php?job=' . $job . '&array=' . $i . '">edit</td>
	   <td valign="top" class="bodycopy"><a href="timedelete.php?job=' . $job . '&array=' . $i . '">delete</td>
        </tr>';
		$i++;

}
}

?>

[konsu]

what is the contents of $array before the control gets to the foreach loop?

[anakadote]

Without natcasesort(): [0] => 2005-07-18,New MLX listing 573074,0.14,Rich [1] => 2005-07-05,Delete Construction Pricing on sold units ,0.25,Taylor [2] => 2005-07-13,Research RSS articles and links for myyahoo,2,Sara [3] => 2005-07-12,Updated Walnut Hollow copy and plans,.5,Rob

With natcasesort(): 1

[konsu]

natcasesort() returns a boolean and sorts the array in place: http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.natcasesort.php. you assign the returned boolean to $array and use it in the foreach loop. no good.

[anakadote]

possible solutions?

[konsu]

do not save the boolean in $array.

[kburger]

This seems to work for me:

$array = array("2005-07-18,New MLX listing 573074,0.14,Rich",
        "2005-07-05,Delete Construction Pricing on sold units ,0.25,Taylor",
        "2005-07-13,Research RSS articles and links for myyahoo,2,Sara",
        "2005-07-12,Updated Walnut Hollow copy and plans,.5,Rob");

print_r($array);
sort($array);
print_r($array);

output:

Array
(
    [0] => 2005-07-18,New MLX listing 573074,0.14,Rich
    [1] => 2005-07-05,Delete Construction Pricing on sold units ,0.25,Taylor
    [2] => 2005-07-13,Research RSS articles and links for myyahoo,2,Sara
    [3] => 2005-07-12,Updated Walnut Hollow copy and plans,.5,Rob
)
Array
(
    [0] => 2005-07-05,Delete Construction Pricing on sold units ,0.25,Taylor
    [1] => 2005-07-12,Updated Walnut Hollow copy and plans,.5,Rob
    [2] => 2005-07-13,Research RSS articles and links for myyahoo,2,Sara
    [3] => 2005-07-18,New MLX listing 573074,0.14,Rich
)

If you want it sorted in reverse, just use rsort() in place of sort(). After you've sorted it, then explode it on your comma. Am I missing something?

[anakadote]

works. thank you.