sort an array and assign new numerical keys?

Question

i have an array like this (after i unset some elements):

$array[3] = 'apple';
$array[5] = 'pear';
$array[23] = 'banana';

which function do i use to sort them to:

$array[0] = 'apple';
$array[1] = 'pear';
$array[2] = 'banana';

i tried some of the sort functions but it didnt work.

Answer 1

I'm not 100% sure on what your intent is. To simply sort an array based on value but assign new keys, use sort():

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

Keys aren't preserved with this particular function. Output:

Array
(
    [0] => apple
    [1] => banana
    [2] => pear
)

But if you want to sort the array by key value use ksort():

ksort($array);
print_r($array);

Output:

Array
(
    [3] => apple
    [5] => pear
    [23] => banana
)

That will preserve the keys however. To reassign keys for an array from 0 onwards use array_values() on the result:

ksort($array);
$array_with_new_keys = array_values($array); // sorted by original key order
print_r($array_with_new_keys);

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => apple
    [1] => pear
    [2] => banana
)

Answer 2

ksort() will sort by key, then get the values with array_values() and that will create a new array with keys from 0 to n-1.

ksort($array)
$array = array_values( $array );

Of course, you don't need ksort if it's already sorted by key. You might as well use array_values() directly.

Answer 3

$arrayOne = array('one','two','three'); //You set an array with certain elements
unset($array[1]);                       //You unset one or more elements.
$arrayTwo = array_values($arrayOnw);    //You reindex the array into a new one.

print_r($arrayTwo);                     //Print for prove.

The print_r results are:

Array ( [0] => one [1] => three )