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I need to sort this multidimensional php object by the variable 'i_lastname'.

I tried most examples with usort and ksort to no avail. Most examples are like this one but won't work for me.

function sort_by_name($a, $b)
{
  return ($a->i_lastname < $b->i_lastname ? -1 : 1);
}
usort($cards, 'sort_by_name');

Here is the object structure.

Thank you.

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [officer_id] => 4D5DEF60
            [card_id] => 5
            [general] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [i_officer_id] => 4D5DEF60
                            [i_officer_name] => 
                            [i_datetime] => 2012-06-12 13:47:00
                            [i_location] => 17 Rue de Neuch, Yvette, France
                            [i_lat] => 48.6955
                            [i_lon] => 2.21458
                            [i_reason] => DUI
                        )
                )
            [subject] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [subject_id] => 6
                            [i_lastname] => Toro
                            [i_firstname] => Benicio
                        )
                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [subject_id] => 9
                            [i_lastname] => Limon
                            [i_firstname] => Pedro
                        )
                )
            [vehicle] => Array
                (
                )
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [officer_id] => 4D5DEF60
            [card_id] => 2
            [general] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [i_officer_id] => 0f3b45a3
                            [i_officer_name] => 
                            [i_datetime] => 2012-06-06 19:42:00
                            [i_location] => 10231 Yankee St, Miami, USA
                            [i_lat] => 39.5952
                            [i_lon] => -84.2003
                            [i_reason] => Speeding
                        )
                )
            [subject] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [subject_id] => 3
                            [i_lastname] => Doe
                            [i_firstname] => John
                        )
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [subject_id] => 15
                            [i_lastname] => Doe
                            [i_firstname] => Jane
                        )
                )
            [vehicle] => Array
                (
                )
        )
)
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3
  • Have you tried usort? Haven't tried it myself, but I saw it recommended once :) Commented Jun 12, 2012 at 14:36
  • i can send the codez if you agree to wipe my police record :) Commented Jun 12, 2012 at 14:36
  • So I guess you are trying to sort the subject sub-array - what are you passing to usort()? The entire structure or the sub-array? Commented Jun 12, 2012 at 14:36

1 Answer 1

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1

You should use ['...'] rather than ->... - you're dealing with arrays, not objects.

Your callback should look like:

return strnatcasecmp($a['i_lastname'],$b['i_lastname']);

Any of strcmp, strcasecmp, strnatcmp or strnatcasecmp should work fine, you just need to decide which one works best for what you are doing.

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4 Comments

Still does not sort properly. Shouldn't I be specifying that 'i_lastname' is inside the 'subject' array?
Yes. You have to tell it where to find what to search for. So it'd be more like $a['subject'][0]['i_lastname'].
Why the [0] in $a['subject'][0]['i_lastname']?
Because subject is an indexed array with multiple subjects.

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