Sorting an associative array in PHP

Question

I have an array in this format:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [text] => tests
            [language] => 
            [advertiserCompetitionScale] => 5
            [avgSearchVolume] => 7480000
            [lastMonthSearchVolume] => 9140000
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [text] => personality tests
            [language] => 
            [advertiserCompetitionScale] => 5
            [avgSearchVolume] => 165000
            [lastMonthSearchVolume] => 201000
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [text] => online tests
            [language] => 
            [advertiserCompetitionScale] => 5
            [avgSearchVolume] => 246000
            [lastMonthSearchVolume] => 301000
        )

)

How can I sort an array in that format, in the descending order of the avgSearchVolume field? Is there a built in function for this?

Answer 1

This might help: Sorting Arrays of Arrays

Answer 2

You'll have to use a custom callback function together with usort().

function cmp($a, $b)
{
    if ($a['avgSearchVolume'] == $b['avgSearchVolume']) {
        return 0;
    }
    return ($a['avgSearchVolume'] > $b['avgSearchVolume']) ? -1 : 1;
}
usort($array, 'cmp');

Answer 3

Use usort and supply your own function to do the ordering, e.g.

function cmp($a, $b)
{
    if ($a['avgSearchVolume'] == $b['avgSearchVolume']) {
        return 0;
    }
    return ($a['avgSearchVolume'] > $b['avgSearchVolume']) ? -1 : 1;
}

usort($array, "cmp");

Answer 4

Until PHP 5.3 this is the best function for sorting based on subkeys without making a new function for each key.

function sortBySubkey(&$array, $subkey, $sortType = SORT_ASC) {
    foreach ($array as $subarray) {
     $keys[] = $subarray[$subkey];
    }
    array_multisort($keys, $sortType, $array);
}
sortBySubkey($arr, 'avgSearchVolume');

With PHP 5.3 you can make something like this, same function call as now.

function getSortVariable($sortType = SORT_ASC) {
    switch($sortType) {
     case SORT_ASC:
      return function ($a, $b) use ($subkey) { return strcmp($a[$subkey], $b[$subkey]); };
    }
}

function sortBySubkey(&$array, $subkey, $sortType = SORT_ASC) {
    $sortFunction = getSortVariable($sortType);
    usort($array, $sortFunction($subkey));
}