Question

i have an array which is called parentArray() and is an associative array with keys as numbers (not ordered integers) and the values which may be or may not be arrays. I have a foreach() loop which loops through the parentArray() and prints the data in html table something like this:

foreach ($parentArray as $parentkey => $childArray){
    echo "<tr>";
    $Usage = some_function1($parentkey);
    $schoolUsage = some_function2($parentkey);
    echo "<td>".$Usage."</td>";
    echo "<td>".$schoolUsage."</td>";
    echo "</tr>";
}

I need to sort the output table in increasing order of $Usage and if 2 rows have same no of $Usage then it should compare $schoolUsage and sort them in descending order. Any ideas on how to do it because i’m completely clueless. Note that $Usage and $schoolUsage are whole numbers.

Answer 1

take a look at the function usort(). You can pass a custom function which does the sorting (bubble sort like).

usort($parentArray, function($element1, $element2) {
  if($element1 == $element2) return 0; // elements stay on the same position as before
  if$element1 < $element2) {
    return -1; // move $element1 before element2
  } else {
    return 1; // move $element2 before element1
  }
});