Sort an array of associative arrays by the order of another array where arrays are different lengths

Question

This is a tricky one to explain..

Array of categories which are in the required order

Array
(
[0] => products
[1] => installation
[2] => software setup
[3] => aftecare & warranty
[4] => other
)

and another array of questions/answers with their respective category -

Array
(
[installation] => Array
    (
        [0] => Array
            (
                [question] => Third FAQ
                [answer] => Another sample FAQ question
            )

    )

[products] => Array
    (
        [0] => Array
            (
                [question] => Another FAQ
                [answer] => This is a sample FAQ answer.
            )

    )
)

Then I need to sort this array so that the categories are in the same order as the first array. (ie products before installation)

I've attempted array_multisort() and usort(), multisort throws an array about array lengths being different and usort() requires the cmp function to return a integer, which stumped me somewhat.

Any help gratefully received.

Thank you

djjjuk · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-14 15:43:36Z

2

try this:

$flipped_categories = array_flip($categories);
array_merge($flipped_categories, $product_array);

that should give you one array where the first array, in the correct order, now contains the FAQs within each one.

answered Feb 14, 2013 at 15:43

djjjuk

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Comments

Baba · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-14 15:45:37Z

0

You can try

$sorted = array();
foreach ( $data as $name ) {
    foreach ( $data2 as $k => $part ) {
        if ($k == $name) {
            $sorted[$k] = $part;
        }
    }
}

print_r($sorted);

See Demo

answered Feb 14, 2013 at 15:45

Baba

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