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up vote 3 down vote favorite

I have a complex multi dimensional array. the structure is like this

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [countries] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => US                            
                            [growth] => 3.57
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => CA                            
                            [growth] => 4.77
                        )

                    [2] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => TT                            
                            [growth] => 0
                        )
                )
            [group_name] => North America
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [countries] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => BR                           
                            [growth] => 2.19
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => PE                           
                            [growth] => 1.78
                        )

                    [2] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => UY                           
                            [growth] => 8.83
                        )

                    [3] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => MX                           
                            [growth] => 3.83
                        )
                )
            [group_name] => South America
        )
)

I want to sort them (may be by using array_multisort) so that they are sorted according to growth (highest first)

So that the sorted array will be

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [countries] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => CA                            
                            [growth] => 4.77
                        )
                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => US                            
                            [growth] => 3.57
                        )                 
                    [2] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => TT                            
                            [growth] => 0
                        )
                )
            [group_name] => North America
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [countries] => Array
                (
                   [0] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => UY                           
                            [growth] => 8.83
                        )

                   [1] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => MX                           
                            [growth] => 3.83
                        )
                    [2] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => BR                           
                            [growth] => 2.19
                        )

                    [3] => Array
                        (
                            [country_code] => PE                           
                            [growth] => 1.78
                        )
                )
            [group_name] => South America
        )
)

I am new to PHP so I could not figure out how can I sort this complex array. I know how to sort siimple multi-dimensional arrays as shown in http://in2.php.net/manual/en/function.array-multisort.php

share|improve this question
    
What's the problem? –  Lion Jul 17 '12 at 15:00
    
I want to sort a complex array and I don't know how to do it. I have read manual but could not get a good example for such a complex array. –  Anuj Jain Jul 17 '12 at 15:05
    
Please show your code –  Steve Robbins Jul 17 '12 at 15:44

2 Answers 2

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Worst case scenario, you make your own sort function and use usort.
It's actually designed for these sorts of things.

In your case, you'll pass $arr[$i]['countries'] and have the comparison function sort based on $arr['growth'].

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

I've used my following sorting function for years now:

/**
 * sorting array of associative arrays - multiple row sorting using a closure
 * see also: the-art-of-web.com/php/sortarray/
 * @param array $data input-array
 * @param string|array $fields array-keys
 * @license Public Domain
 * @return array
 */
function sortArray( $data, $field )
{
    $field = (array) $field;
    uasort( $data, function($a, $b) use($field) {
        $retval = 0;
        foreach( $field as $fieldname )
        {
            if( $retval == 0 ) $retval = strnatcmp( $a[$fieldname], $b[$fieldname] );
        }
        return $retval;
    } );
    return $data;
}


// example call, sort by 'growth' first and by 'country_code' afterwards
// this would be equal to a MySQL 'ORDER BY `growth` ASC, `country_code` ASC'
foreach( $countryArray as &$item )
{
    $item['countries'] = sortArray( $item['countries'], array( 'growth', 'country_code' ) );
}
share|improve this answer

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