PHP: Pulling lowest values in multiple arrays

Question

I have one element of a project that is holding me back and try as I might I have not been able to get this to work. Can someone please assist me - I am sure I am just confused by it all and that there is an easy answer. I have 3 multi-dimensional arrays (3 different pricing data from different companies), EACH holding this sort of data:

[0] => Array
(
    [itemcode] => 27663
    [buy] => 50000
    [perquantity] => 5
)

[1] => Array
(
    [itemcode] => 38663
    [buy] => 41000
    [perquantity] => 4
)

The same itemcodes appear in the data from all 3 companies. I was to create an html table that has the following columns from this data:

ItemCode  | Supplier1  | Supplier2  | Supplier3  | Difference (2nd lowest minus lowest)
38663   | 12500  | 12425  |  16440  |  75

My question: Is there a shortcut to doing this, say by creating another array to temp store data? Or is there a concept you feel is required to complete this easily?

Any help is VERY appreciated.

whhy use 3 dimensional array why not use a class and create an object store all the information in the object and create array or list of objects — COLD TOLD
– COLD TOLD, Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 6:13
The data I receive is pulled from malformed JSON data that was only able to be pull apart into arrays. I don't have any control over the data extracted from the software the suppliers are using. — SystemX17
– SystemX17, Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 23:42

ghoti · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-05 06:19:34Z

1

I don't know where the numbers in your HTML table come from, but I think creating a temporary array would be the way to go.

$items=array();
foreach ($supplier1 as $data) {
  $items[$data['itemcode']]['Supplier1buy']  = $data['buy'];
  $items[$data['itemcode']]['Supplier1perq'] = $data['perquantity'];
}
foreach ($supplier2 as $data) {
  $items[$data['itemcode']]['Supplier2buy']  = $data['buy'];
  $items[$data['itemcode']]['Supplier2perq'] = $data['perquantity'];
}
// etc.

To make prettier code, I think I'd need to know more about how the data works. For example, I don't know if you really need 'perquantity'. Is the number in your HTML table a function of buy and perquantity?

Once you've got your large $items array, you can walk through it to create the rows of your HTML table.

answered Jun 5, 2012 at 6:19

ghoti

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SystemX17 Over a year ago

I will definitely use a temporary array - it seems the most efficient way to pull the information together. I probably only need (buy / perquanitity) to get the per each price. Another part of the problem that I need to deal with is that each price list may contain more than one list of the same itemcode. Say for bulk buying or the likes. I really only need the lowest possible price for each item from each supplier. But I think I will be right from here on out - thank you very much for your recommendations. Much appreciated /bow :)

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