Sort a flat array by values in a descending direction and preserve the keys

Question

Please how do I sort the below array

Array
(
    'ben' => 1.0,
    'ken' => 2.0,
    'sam' => 1.5
)

to

Array
(
    'ken' => 2.0,
    'sam' => 1.5,
    'ben' => 1.0
)

Answer 1

try this.

<?php
$my_array = array('ben' => 1.0, 'ken' => 2.0, 'sam' => 1.5);

arsort($my_array);
print_r($my_array);
?>

The arsort() function sorts an array by the values in reverse order. The values keep their original keys.

Answer 2

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.rsort.php

Answer 3

There's a whole manual section dedicated to such things:

http://php.net/manual/en/array.sorting.php

edit: specifically, arsort()

Answer 4

$arr = Array(
'ben' => 1.0,
'ken' => 2.0,
'sam' => 1.5
)    
$sorted = asort($arr);
$reversed = rsort($sorted);

Answer 5

If you use regular PHP array sorting functions, you'll lose your array keys. I think the shortest path to what you want is something like this:

$array = array("ben" => "1.0", "ken" => "2.0", "sam" => "1.5");
array_multisort($array, SORT_DESC);
print_r($array);

Make sure that all of your array values are either strings or numbers, otherwise the result will be unpredictable.

Answer 6

The sort function should work:

sort($theArray, SORT_NUMERIC);

Update

I didn't notice you wanted it in reverse; in that case use rsort.