sorting array descending/ascending order confusion

[silverglade]

hi, im confused with this code , i thought that "Grisold" should come first in the output list, and "Champy" should come last since the sort is ascending. because "gary" comes last in the first sort. any help greatly appreciate to enlighten me .

 

<?php

   $staff["givenname"][0] = "Jason";
   $staff["givenname"][1] = "Manny";
   $staff["givenname"][2] = "Gary";
   $staff["givenname"][3] = "James";
   $staff["surname"][0] = "Gilmore";
   $staff["surname"][1] = "Champy";
   $staff["surname"][2] = "Grisold";
   $staff["surname"][3] = "Gilmore";

   $res = array_multisort($staff["surname"],SORT_STRING,SORT_ASC,
                          $staff["givenname"],SORT_STRING,SORT_ASC);

   print_r($staff);
  
?>

 

 

output is as follows:

Array ( [givenname] => Array ( [0] => Manny [1] => James [2] => Jason [3] => Gary ) [surname] => Array ( [0] => Champy [1] => Gilmore [2] => Gilmore [3] => Grisold ) ) 

[Psycho]

Your code is sorting by 'surname' first and then by 'givenname'. So, it will be sorted by lastname, firstname is ascending order: a comes before b, b before c, etc. Your results should be:

 

- Champy, Many

- Gilmore, James

- Gilmore, Jason

- Grisold, Gary

[silverglade]

thank you, but shouldn't the order be

 

champy, gary

gilmore, james

gilmore, jason

grisold, manny

 

 

i still dont get it. LOL. sorry.

[silverglade]

nevermind i DO get it now lol. ok so it sorts the last names first, then if it hits duplicate last names it sorts the first names? i thought it was sorting both first names and last names and that the first and last names were unrelated. but i still dont get how the first and last names are related because they are in two different arrays arent they?

[Psycho]

Yes, but the function will relate them by the index when you use it in this manner. By doing a multisort on the two arrays the function is associating $staff["givenname"][0] with $staff["surname"][0].

 

Read the manual for this function. Specifically look at examples #1 and #2

 

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.array-multisort.php