[RESOLVED] Sorting a Multi-Dimensional Array

areid

This started as a headache to a migraine to pull out hair.

I'm trying to sort a very big multi-dimensional array, up to 10 dimensions and having a heck of a time getting it to work.

I've tried using usort , creating a compare function and strcmp, but it just ends up being an even bigger mess.

Maybe I am making it more complicated than it really is, or maybe it's just too complicated.

To look at the array, click here

I want to sort everything by "name". I do need the index to stay the same on the first array, and the text index's need to stay the same. All the other index's can be reset.

I don't know, maybe I am asking too much. If so, maybe someone can steer me in the right directions.

I hope that someone out their can understand this.

Thanks so much for your time!

Weedpacket

Perhaps uksort would be a better function to use? That keeps the array keys associated with their original values.

This also looks like you'd be calling it recursively (if the array entry contains a 'list' element you'd sort the array it contains separately from all the others - you don't want "Supplemental Oxygen on Commercial Airlines" to show up under "Cystic Fibrosis". Since all of the arrays are in 'list' elements, it would appear to me that those arrays are what you want to sort: there is no need to touch the keys you highlight.

So, going through the elements of the array. Each time you find a 'list' field, sort its elements according to their 'name' field. Then look at each of its (freshly-sorted) elements to see if they contain 'list' elements. If they do, then for each of them ... go back to the start of this paragraph.

Roughly like

sortthis($array)
{
    usort($array, 'strcmpthenames');
    foreach($array as $a)
    {
        if(isset($a['list'])) sortthis($a['list']);
    }
}

areid

Sorry it has taken awhile to reply.

Thanks for the replay to my question, but I still am having trouble. Here is my functions

function outline_sort($a, $b) {
   if ($a['name'] == $b['name']) {
       return 0;
   }
   return ($a['name'] < $b['name']) ? -1 : 1;
}

function sort_topic_info($array) {
    uksort($array, 'outline_sort');
    foreach($array as $a) {
        if(isset($a['list'])) { sort_topic_info($a['list']); }
    }
	return $array;
}

It doesn't do anything. The array is still out of order.

Any help would be great. Maybe there is a better way of making the array?

areid

Nevermind, I just sorted each array after it was created, instead of trying to sort the entire array as a whole. It work, I guess that's all I care about.

Thanks for your help.

Weedpacket

areid wrote:
Nevermind, I just sorted each array after it was created, instead of trying to sort the entire array as a whole. It work, I guess that's all I care about.

That sounds like the better approach: if you sort the array before you put it in the structure you don't have to go looking for it again later to sort it.