Multidimensional array sorting question

PHP
1

I’m wanting to sort the following array structure (the below array is print_r($glossary_index)) so that it is by length of the post_title (longest to shortest) :

Array
(
[728] => stdClass Object
(
[ID] => 728
[post_author] => 1
[post_date] => 2010-07-15 17:34:34
[post_date_gmt] => 2010-07-15 07:34:34
[post_content] => Somebody you owe money to
[post_title] => Creditor
[post_excerpt] =>
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => creditor
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 2010-07-16 11:58:28
[post_modified_gmt] => 2010-07-16 01:58:28
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => …
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => glossary
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)

[725] => stdClass Object
    (
        [ID] => 725
        [post_author] => 1
        [post_date] => 2010-07-15 17:10:24
        [post_date_gmt] => 2010-07-15 07:10:24
        [post_content] => yada yada yda
        [post_title] => Creditor’s Petition
        [post_excerpt] => 
        [post_status] => publish
        [comment_status] => closed
        [ping_status] => closed
        [post_password] => 
        [post_name] => creditors-petition
        [to_ping] => 
        [pinged] => 
        [post_modified] => 2010-07-15 17:38:06
        [post_modified_gmt] => 2010-07-15 07:38:06
        [post_content_filtered] => 
        [post_parent] => 0
        [guid] => ...
        [menu_order] => 0
        [post_type] => glossary
        [post_mime_type] => 
        [comment_count] => 0
        [filter] => raw
    )

)

So in the above scenario it would become:

Array
(
[725] => stdClass Object
(
[ID] => 725
[post_author] => 1
[post_date] => 2010-07-15 17:10:24
[post_date_gmt] => 2010-07-15 07:10:24
[post_content] => yada yada yda
[post_title] => Creditor’s Petition
[post_excerpt] =>
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => creditors-petition
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 2010-07-15 17:38:06
[post_modified_gmt] => 2010-07-15 07:38:06
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => …
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => glossary
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)

[728] => stdClass Object
    (
        [ID] => 728
        [post_author] => 1
        [post_date] => 2010-07-15 17:34:34
        [post_date_gmt] => 2010-07-15 07:34:34
        [post_content] => Somebody you owe money to
        [post_title] => Creditor
        [post_excerpt] => 
        [post_status] => publish
        [comment_status] => closed
        [ping_status] => closed
        [post_password] => 
        [post_name] => creditor
        [to_ping] => 
        [pinged] => 
        [post_modified] => 2010-07-16 11:58:28
        [post_modified_gmt] => 2010-07-16 01:58:28
        [post_content_filtered] => 
        [post_parent] => 0
        [guid] => ...
        [menu_order] => 0
        [post_type] => glossary
        [post_mime_type] => 
        [comment_count] => 0
        [filter] => raw
    )

)

2

wow, thanks much. Would never have guessed it was such a simple solution! My apologise, and thanks again!!

3

LuckyB, the process is just the same. You simply need to refer to whatever values it is that you want to sort on: in this case the length of the post_title property.


function sortByLength($a,$b){
    return strlen($b->post_title) - strlen($a->post_title);
}
4

Possibly, but not sure if that would work with such a multidimensional array, the example array is very simple.

You keep saying “multidimensional array”, but $glossary_index is NOT a multidimensional array. It is an array of objects. As far as I know multidimensional arrays are arrays having as elements other arrays. Maybe that’s what is messing up your thinking. Salathe’s solution is what you’re looking for.

5

Possibly, but not sure if that would work with such a multidimensional array, the example array is very simple.

I need to sort.order those arrays by [post_title]. Can’t see that fairly simple code doing that.

6

Hi LuckyB,
is this what you want?


function sortByLength($a,$b){
  if($a == $b) return 0;
  return (strlen($a) > strlen($b) ? -1 : 1);
}

$array = array("bbbbb", "dog", "cat", "aaa", "aaaaaaa");

usort($array,'sortByLength');

echo "<pre>";
print_r($array);

You can View the complete details here.
http://php.net/manual/en/function.usort.php