Question

I have the following array:

Array
(
[0] => Array
    (
        [note] => test
        [year] => 2011
        [type] => football
    )

[1] => Array
    (
        [note] => test1
        [year] => 2010
        [type] => basket
    )

[2] => Array
    (
        [note] => test2
        [year] => 2012
        [type] => football
    )

[3] => Array
    (
        [note] => test3
        [year] => 2009
        [type] => basket
    )

[4] => Array
    (
        [note] => test4
        [year] => 2010
        [type] => football
    )

)

And I would like to first sort it according another array by type:

For example: $sort = array('football','basket');

And afterwards by year.

How can I do that?

Thanks.

Desired output should be:

Array
(
[2] => Array
    (
        [note] => test2
        [year] => 2012
        [type] => football
    )
[0] => Array
    (
        [note] => test
        [year] => 2011
        [type] => football
    )
[4] => Array
    (
        [note] => test4
        [year] => 2010
        [type] => football
    )

[1] => Array
    (
        [note] => test1
        [year] => 2010
        [type] => basket
    )

[3] => Array
    (
        [note] => test3
        [year] => 2009
        [type] => basket
    )

)

I do not mind if we reset the index values.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Use array_multisort. Assuming your array is $arr:

foreach($arr as $key=>$row) {
    $type[$key] = $row['type'];
    $year[$key] = $row['year'];
}
array_multisort($type, SORT_ASC, $year, SORT_ASC, $arr);

To use an addictional array specifying type order, you could do:

$sortBy = array('football','basket');
foreach($arr as $key=>$row) {
    $type[$key] = array_search($row['type'],$sortBy);
    $year[$key] = $row['year'];
}
array_multisort($type, SORT_ASC, $year, SORT_ASC, $arr);

Example link:

http://codepad.org/qhZCpbZE