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I've searched google and stackoverflow for an answer but didn't find it...

I need to sort an array based on how much the item was sold. Then I need to sort it so that the priority (anything above zero) is moved to the top. The issue I'm having is that when I do the second sort (step 3) it unsort the sort from step 2.

Step 1: I have an array:

array(
    array(
        'title' => 'A',
        'priority' => 0,
        'sold_count' => 44
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'B',
        'priority' => 2,
        'sold_count' => 0
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'C',
        'priority' => 1,
        'sold_count' => 3
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'D',
        'priority' => 0,
        'sold_count' => 33
    ),
)

Step 2: I sort it based on sold_count and get:

array(
    array(
        'title' => 'A',
        'priority' => 0,
        'sold_count' => 44
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'D',
        'priority' => 0,
        'sold_count' => 33
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'C',
        'priority' => 1,
        'sold_count' => 3
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'B',
        'priority' => 2,
        'sold_count' => 0
    ),
)

Step 3: Sort it by its priority (what I should get).

array(
    array(
        'title' => 'B',
        'priority' => 2,
        'sold_count' => 0
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'C',
        'priority' => 1,
        'sold_count' => 3
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'A',
        'priority' => 0,
        'sold_count' => 44
    ),
    array(
        'title' => 'D',
        'priority' => 0,
        'sold_count' => 33
    ),
)

Instead of getting what I want (step 3) I get an array with the priority sorted right however all other guides after have a random order. All guides that don't have a priority (priority === 0) should not be resorted.

I've tried a bunch of methods using asort, aasort, custom foreach and setting the key and this multisort (example below but taken from here and here, the example 3).

$sorterA =
$sorterB = array();

foreach($array as $k => $v) {
  $sorterA[$k] = $k;
  $sorterB[$k] = $v['priority'];
}

array_multisort($sorterA, SORT_NUMERIC, $sorterB, SORT_DESC, SORT_NUMERIC, $array);

Note: Both sorts sorta need to be done separately (because the first sort isn't always sorted by sold_count but rather by date or other things).

share|improve this question
 
Did you try my answer from the first question you linked to? Sort first by priority descending and then by sold_count descending. –  Jon May 30 '13 at 9:16
 
Not yet. Let me check it out –  iDev247 May 30 '13 at 9:21
 
Have a look. –  Jon May 30 '13 at 9:22
 
Whoa! Amazing. Let me adventure a bit with your solution. I gave sold_count as an example however when I sort by priority I no longer have sold_count available (see my first comment on zerkms's answer). What I do have available is the original sort/keys. –  iDev247 May 30 '13 at 9:29
 
Alright. I came up with this. It's a hack but it works! –  iDev247 May 30 '13 at 9:41
show 2 more comments

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

You just need to sort by 2 columns:

usort($arr, function($a, $b) {
    if ($a['priority'] == $b['priority']) {
        return $a['sold_count'] < $b['sold_count'] ? 1 : -1;
    }

    return $a['priority'] < $b['priority'] ? 1 : -1;
});

so it would sort by priority if the priorities differ, otherwise it sorts by sold_count

share|improve this answer
 
Looks like a great solution. I however loosely need to sort both separately (see the last note of my question). The reason is that first sorting (sold_count) isn't always sorted by sold_count. It was mostly for example. Sometimes it's sorted with its own other layer of sorting (no worries I cache all this). –  iDev247 May 30 '13 at 9:26
 
"to sort both separately" -- so change the comparer function correspondingly. "Separate" sort makes no sense - it's still a single sort by multiple criterias –  zerkms May 30 '13 at 9:55
 
Sorry for the confusion. It's cause my data is pulled form a sort of API. The API sorts the data. I don't have access to sold_count but I do have access to the way its sorted. Originally say the API would return title(priority): A(0), B(0), D(1), C(0), E(0) then I sorted it by priority I would get: D(1), E(0), B(0), A(0), C(0) (random sorting after the priority) instead of D(1), A(0), B(0), C(0), E(0). A hack from the solution Jon described above works great. Now that I think of it I could also use your solution but replace sold_count by priority. I'll update in a couple with a test. –  iDev247 May 30 '13 at 20:44
 
Your solution works! View here. View without your solution (see how they ones after the priority do not retain their original sort) –  iDev247 May 31 '13 at 1:29
 
@iDev247: I would wonder if it didn't work :-) –  zerkms May 31 '13 at 1:31
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