[solution][function] Sorting a PHP 2 dimensional multi array on a key in 2nd level

If you need sort this type of array by the date … you’ll probably get stuck on HOW to do this …

[code:1:e08340ab9c]$aData = array();
LOOP START
$tmparray = array(’event’ => $event_string, ‘date’=> $date);

$aData[] = $tmparray;
LOOP END[/code:1:e08340ab9c]

Well… php.net comments to the resque!

The following post was quite handy:
[quote:e08340ab9c=”[url=http://nl.php.net/manual/en/function.array-multisort.php#61976]mail at theopensource dot com
31-Jan-2006 07:34[/url]”]
I wanted to share with you a function that I created to make the array_multisort process much easier for myself… There was some interesting things that I encountered and I will post that in the comments.

I created this function so that all I have to do is tell it what column I want to sort through in a one level deep multidimensional array. You can Try this code in your browser to view the results

ex/
[code:1:e08340ab9c]<?php

//Here is an array example
$test[0][’name’] = “David”;
$test[0][’age’] = 28;
$test[1][’name’] = “Dennis”;
$test[1][’age’] = 23;
$test[2][’name’] = “Joseph”;
$test[2][’age’] = 42;

//Here is the Function

function sortmddata($array, $by, $order, $type){

//$array: the array you want to sort
//$by: the associative array name that is one level deep
////example: name
//$order: ASC or DESC
//$type: num or str

$sortby = “sort$by”; //This sets up what you are sorting by

$firstval = current($array); //Pulls over the first array

$vals = array_keys($firstval); //Grabs the associate Arrays

foreach ($vals as $init){
$keyname = “sort$init”;
$$keyname = array();
}
//This was strange because I had problems adding
//Multiple arrays into a variable variable
//I got it to work by initializing the variable variables as arrays
//Before I went any further

foreach ($array as $key => $row) {

foreach ($vals as $names){
$keyname = “sort$names”;
$test = array();
$test[$key] = $row[$names];
$$keyname = array_merge($$keyname,$test);

}

}

//This will create dynamic mini arrays so that I can perform
//the array multisort with no problem
//Notice the temp array… I had to do that because I
//cannot assign additional array elements to a
//varaiable variable

if ($order == “DESC”){
if ($type == “num”){
array_multisort($$sortby,SORT_DESC, SORT_NUMERIC,$array);
} else {
array_multisort($$sortby,SORT_DESC, SORT_STRING,$array);
}
} else {
if ($type == “num”){
array_multisort($$sortby,SORT_ASC, SORT_NUMERIC,$array);
} else {
array_multisort($$sortby,SORT_ASC, SORT_STRING,$array);
}
}

//This just goed through and asks the additional arguments
//What they are doing and are doing variations of
//the multisort

return $array;
}

//Now to test it

$test = sortmddata($test,’age’,’ASC’,’num’);

print_r ($test);

//This will return
//Array (
//[0] => Array ([name] => Dennis [age] => 23 )
//[1] => Array ( [name] => David [age] => 28 )
//[2] => Array ( [name] => Joseph [age] => 42 )
//)

?>[/code:1:e08340ab9c]
[/quote:e08340ab9c]