Custom array sort? asc then desc

[Dimensional]

Any ideas how I could sort this array? I've been trying for a while. Maybe with usort, but I have no idea how... 

 

Each entry is laid out like this: ("$status||$id||$shop||$name||$date")

I want it to sort as $status Ascending, and $id Descending.

 

The reason I can't order it from the database to begin with, is because the entries come from more than one database. So ID's go into the array as 4 3 2 1, next database 4 3 2 1, and so on.

[teamatomic]

do a

echo "<pre>";

print_r($array);

and show us what you have for an array. What you probably want to use is array_multisort. I've given a few examples here within the last week, do a search.

 

 

HTH

Teamtomic

[Dimensional]

They will look basically like this:

 

0||3 ||words||words||2/18/2010

0||2 ||words||words||2/18/2010

1||1 ||words||words||2/18/2010

0||4 ||words||words||2/18/2010

0||3 ||words||words||2/18/2010

2||2 ||words||words||2/18/2010

2||1 ||words||words||2/18/2010

 

 

It needs to sort by the first number upward. Then within that, the second number downward:

 

0||4 ||words||words||2/18/2010

0||3 ||words||words||2/18/2010

0||3 ||words||words||2/18/2010

0||2 ||words||words||2/18/2010

1||1 ||words||words||2/18/2010

2||2 ||words||words||2/18/2010

2||1 ||words||words||2/18/2010

 

Easy with sql, but I'm not sure how it could be done with an array.

I checked the examples, and didn't see how any of them could work for this 

[teamatomic]

If what you are showing would be arrays in an array then you would use the multisort example but with key position.  But your second example is re-ordering not sorting so that would take looping through,comparing and re-ordering on the result of the comparison.

 

 

HTH

Teamatomic

[roopurt18]

The reason I can't order it from the database to begin with, is because the entries come from more than one database.

Show me how you select from the databases please.

[Dimensional]

Show me how you select from the databases please.

 

foreach database{

new database connection

new query

    add to array

}

 

Which gives you results that aren't sorted as a whole.

[roopurt18]

I'd like to see the code, if possible, for:

new query

    add to array

}

[Psycho]

I'm with roopurt18 on this. Let's see how you are getting the data. However, if there is no way to sort the databefore putting it into an array, then usort() will be a better solution than array_multisort().

 

array_multisort() will require you to reformat the multidimensional array into many arrays before running it. With usort, you can create a small function to resort the multidimensional array however you want. If you were to provide the structure of your array I could provide some sample code. Use print_r() as already suggested above. Your examples do not show structure: are the values numerically indexed or what?

[roopurt18]

I'm guessing his values are numerically indexed and that they are strings in the format he has provided.

 

I'm also guessing there is a way he can do this while retrieving the values or he can retrieve the values in a modified manner that will make this sorting task easier.  If he is unable to elaborate on his methods and formats, then there's only so much we can do to help.

[Dimensional]

Sure, I was just trying to keep it simple....maybe achieving the opposite 

 

foreach($database_array as $x){
$db = "F:\location\\$x.mdb";
$conn = new COM('ADODB.Connection') or exit('Cannot start ADO.');
$conn->Open("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=$db");

$sql = "SELECT * FROM MyTable ORDER By Status asc, ID desc";
$rs = $conn->Execute($sql);
while(!$rs->Eof){

	#bunch of results put into variables#

	$orders[] = ("$status||$id||$shop||$name||$orderdate");

	$rs->MoveNext();
}
$rs->Close();
}

 

Maybe it was misunderstood, each value of the array is just a string, not another array (put together to later be broken into one). So the examples I gave before were strings. The real values look that way. I was hoping there was some way to pick apart a string for sorting.

I don't understand usort very well....it seemed like that was the idea behind it.

[Dimensional]

or he can retrieve the values in a modified manner that will make this sorting task easier.

 

That's what I'm thinking. I tried, but haven't been able to wrap my mind around it.

[roopurt18]

each value of the array is just a string

I managed to pick up on that. 

 

<?php
$sort_status = array(); // want to init these values
$sort_id = array(); // init
$orders = array(); // init

foreach($database_array as $x){
    $db = "F:\location\\$x.mdb";
    $conn = new COM('ADODB.Connection') or exit('Cannot start ADO.');
    $conn->Open("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=$db");
    
    $sql = "SELECT * FROM MyTable ORDER By Status asc, ID desc";
    $rs = $conn->Execute($sql);
    while(!$rs->Eof){
        
        #bunch of results put into variables#
        $sort_status[] = $status; // the $sort_ARRAYS are for array_multisort
        $sort_id[] = $id;
        $orders[] = ( "$status||$id||$shop||$name||$orderdate" );
        
        $rs->MoveNext();
    }
    $rs->Close();
}

array_multisort( $sort_status, SORT_ASC, $sort_id, SORT_DESC, $orders );
print_r( $orders );
?>

 

put together to later be broken into one

If you're later going to be breaking the strings apart into arrays, then you may

want to assign to $orders like so:

$orders[] = array( 'status' => $status, 'id' => $id, ... );

 

(edit 1) Looping over all the records to build the array, then sorting the array, and then ultimately looping over it again is computationally expensive.  There might also be a way where you can create a joint dataset that allows you to select from all of the databases / tables at once and actually use the database to perform the sort.

 

(edit 2) However if the record set is small OR this script is not run often OR you just are not generally concerned with the performance, then array_multisort() is fine.

[Psycho]

This makes no sense to me:

$orders[] = ( "$status||$id||$shop||$name||$orderdate" );

 

I thought you were dealing with a multi-dimensional array. Instead you are taking the values and creating a sting with all the values concatenated. You should create a multidimensional array to keep the data organized and you can easily sort using usort(). usort() is a better option for sorting multidimensional arrays. array_multisort() would require you to create/maintaine separate arrays for each sort field (see Example #3 in the manual). With usort() you just need to create a small function to sort a multidimensional array.

 

Try this:

<?php

$orders = array(); // init

foreach($database_array as $x){
    $db = "F:\location\\$x.mdb";
    $conn = new COM('ADODB.Connection') or exit('Cannot start ADO.');
    $conn->Open("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=$db");
    
    $sql = "SELECT * FROM MyTable ORDER By Status asc, ID desc";
    $rs = $conn->Execute($sql);
    while(!$rs->Eof){
        
        //Create a multi-dimensional array
        $orders[] = (
            'status' => $status,
            'id'        => $id,
            'shop'      => $shop,
            'name'      => $name,
            'orderdate' =>$orderdate
        );
    
        $rs->MoveNext();
    }
    $rs->Close();
}
    
//Create custom function for sorting array
function mySort($a, $b)
{
    //Sort by status, ascending
    if($a['status']!=$b['status'])
    {
        return ($a['status']<$b['status']) ? 1 : -1;
    }
    //Sort by ID descending
    return ($a['status']>$b['status']) ? 1 : -1;
}
//Sort array using usort() and the custom function
usort($orders, 'mySort');
print_r($orders);
?>