[RESOLVED] display the files in a directory in alphabetical order

[rikmoncur]

I've got this bit of code which shows all the pdf files in a directory.
It works ok but displays the files in no particular order.
I'd like to display the files in either alphabetical order or order by date.
Anyone know how?

$uploadDir = '/mydirectory/pdf';	
if ($handle = opendir($uploadDir)) {
   while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) { 	
       if ($file != "." && $file != "..") { 

       echo "<b><a href='http://www.mywebsite/pdf/" . $file . "'>" . $file . "</a></b><p>"; 

   } 

   }
   closedir($handle); 
}

[Catharsis]

Something like this perhaps?

function readdirsort($dir) {
       /* Funktastic readdir wrapper. Puts directories first and sorts. */
       static $not_first_run, $last_read_item=0, $items;

   if (!$not_first_run) {
           $not_first_run = true;
           while (false !== ($file = readdir($dir))) {
                   if (is_dir("$file"))
                           $dirs[] = $file;
                   else
                           $files[] = $file;
           }

           natcasesort($dirs);
           natcasesort($files);

           $items = array_merge($dirs, $files);
   }

   if ($items[$last_read_item] == false)
           return false;
   else
           return $items[$last_read_item++];
}

[rikmoncur]

um... thanx - any idea how to use it?
sorry to be doolally.

[Installer]

Since you don't want them displayed in the order they're read, then don't echo them as they're read. First put them into an array:

$uploadDir = '/mydirectory/pdf';     

if ($handle = opendir($uploadDir)) { 
    while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {      

        if ($file != "." && $file != "..") { 
            $file_arr[] = $file;
        } 
    } 
closedir($handle); 
}

Then sort and display the array:

natcasesort($file_arr); 
foreach ($file_arr as $file) {
    echo "<b><a href='http://www.mywebsite/pdf/" . $file . "'>" . $file . "</a></b><p>";
}

[Catharsis]

$list = readdirsort( $dir );

print_r( $list );

[Installer]

You can do it like this to sort either alphabetically or by file time (tested):

$directory = '/mydirectory/pdf';
$sort_field = 'time';  // Or 'file'

$file_array = get_file_array($directory);
$file_array = sort_multi_array($file_array, $sort_field);
foreach ($file_array as $value) {
    echo $value['file'] . ' => ' . $value['time'] . '<br />';
}

function get_file_array($dir)
{
    if (substr($dir, -1) != '/') {
        $dir .= '/';
    }
    if ($handle = opendir($dir)) { 
        while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {      

            if ($file != "." && $file != "..") { 
                $time = filemtime($dir . $file);
                $file_arr[] = array('file' => $file, 'time' => $time);
            } 
        } 
        closedir($handle); 
        return $file_arr;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

function sort_multi_array($array, $sort_key, $direction = SORT_ASC)  // Or SORT_DESC
{
    foreach ($array as $key => $value) {
        $sort_arr[]  = $value[$sort_key];
    }
    array_multisort($sort_arr, $direction, $array);
    return $array;
}

[rikmoncur]

Thank you so much, both of you!
That's done the trick!