Question

I have about 50 items in a list. I calculate their value using an algorythm and I add their value in an array.

Suppose I get this when the loop is over:

$vals = (51, 23, 77, 3, 8, 31, 17, 102, 87, (...));

Now, how can I get they keys of the 3 highest values in the array?

In the above example, I would like to get:

• 8 (key of 102)
• 9 (key of 87)
• 3 (key of 77)

PS: I don’t want to insert those datas in a DB and then select them with Order clause, I’m sure there is an easier way around.

Answer 1

$vals = array(51, 23, 77, 3, 8, 31, 17, 102, 87);
arsort($vals);    
$keys = array_slice(array_keys($vals), 0, 3);

var_dump($keys); // array(3) { [0]=> int(7) [1]=> int(8) [2]=> int(2) }

The result is not the same you’d like to get, because arrays in php are 0-indexed