Sort an array based on a similar array?

Question

I have 2 arrays with numerical indices that have the same number of keys and similar but not identical values. $unordered has the unordered data, whereas array $ordered has the data in the proper order. I want to sort $unordered in the same order as $ordered, but keep the percentage values in square brackets from $unordered.

$unordered:

[0] => "Horse [1%]"
[1] => "Cat [5%]"
[2] => "Dog [94%]"

$ordered:

[0] => "Cat"
[1] => "Horse"
[2] => "Dog"

Thanks.

What's the relationship? I don't see any common denominator here — Ohgodwhy
– Ohgodwhy, Commented Aug 27, 2014 at 19:19
I think he wants $undernored to have the same sequence as set by the $ordered array. — Mephy
– Mephy, Commented Aug 27, 2014 at 19:21
What is the order? Alphabetical is not right. Letter count is not right. So how are you sorting it? — Jay
– Jay, Commented Aug 27, 2014 at 19:21
@Ohgodwhy: I think he wants to sort $unordered by the order of the values in $ordered. — gen_Eric
– gen_Eric, Commented Aug 27, 2014 at 19:22
$ordered is sorta ordered randomly - not alphabetical or letter count - so that's why I'm wondering if there's a way to order $unordered by $ordered rather than sorting $unordered alphabetically/etc. — user3600400
– user3600400, Commented Aug 27, 2014 at 19:35

gen_Eric · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-27 19:29:33Z

3

usort is your go-to sorting function when it comes to complicated things like your example.

Try something like this. Basically, it parses the value from $unordered, then searches for it in the $ordered array.

usort($unordered, function($a, $b) use($ordered){
    $aVal = explode(' ', $a);
    $bVal = explode(' ', $b);

    return array_search($aVal[0], $ordered) - array_search($bVal[0], $ordered);
});

DEMO: https://eval.in/184201

answered Aug 27, 2014 at 19:29

gen_Eric

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5 Comments

Drumbeg Over a year ago

Was just in the process of writing something similar. This example worked for me. +1.

user3600400 Over a year ago

For the occasional value, there may be multiple spaces before the [%] eg. A large animal [56%]. Is there a way to modify the explode statements so they don't just look at the first set of characters? Sorry, ran into this problem as I tried to implement it.

gen_Eric Over a year ago

@user3600400: A (cheesy) solution would be to do explode(' [', $a) instead. That seems to work. Otherwise, you'd have to use a regex.

user3600400 Over a year ago

I updated both $aVal and $bVal to $aVal = explode(' [', $a); and $bVal = explode(' [', $b); which seemed to work. Didn't work with changing just $aVal. Thanks!

gen_Eric Over a year ago

You're welcome. Yeah, I should've mentioned to change both a and b :-)

Jay · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-27 20:41:45Z

2

Although Rocket Hazmats looks nicer and is better, but you can probably understand this

 $array = array();
 $array[] = "Horse [5%]"
 $array[] ="Cat [1%]";
 $array[] ="Dog [99%]";
 $ordered = array();
 $ordered[] = "Cat";
 $ordered[] = "Horse";
 $ordered[] = "Dog";
 $var = "";

 $a = array_fill(0, count($ordered), '');
 for($i = 0; $i < count($array); $i++){
    preg_match("/[a-zA-z]+/", $array[$i], $var);
    for($j = 0; $j < count($ordered); $j++){
      if($var[0] == $ordered[$j]) $a[$j] = $array[$i];
    }
 }

 return $a;

edited Aug 27, 2014 at 20:41

answered Aug 27, 2014 at 19:35

Jay

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