PHP sort array of books into array of locations - php

Question

I have an array of pickers assigned to locations there could be a varying number of these.
['picker A'=>'location 1','picker B'=>'location 2','picker C' => 'location 2', 'picker D'=>'location 1']
and an array of orders which can contain products in one or more locations I have sorted the orders products into separate location arrays already by looping through all orders and products and sorting them into separate locations based on the order products subArray so one order can exist across more then one location but only contain the products in that location if that makes sense.
location 1 orders...
locatinOneOrders[0] => ['order_id','customer name','products'=>['array of products in location 1']
locatinOneOrders[1] => ['order_id','customer name','products'=>['array of products in location 1']
location 2 orders..
locatinTwoOrders[0] => ['order_id','customer name','products'=>['array of products in location 2']
locatinTwoOrders[1] => ['order_id','customer name','products'=>['array of products in location 2']
locatinTwoOrders[2] => ['order_id','customer name','products'=>['array of products in location 2']
locatinTwoOrders[3] => ['order_id','customer name','products'=>['array of products in location 1']
What I need to do is assign an equal or as equal as possible number of orders to each picker based on the location.
So in the above example Picker A and Picker D should get one order each and Picker B and Picker C should get 2 orders each, this needs to work for any number of pickers per location and any number of orders.

Answer 1

Could be something as simple as the following using array_chunk.
<?php
$pickers = ['picker A'=>'location 1','picker B'=>'location 2','picker C' => 'location 2', 'picker D'=>'location 1'];
$pickersByLocation = [];
foreach ($pickers as $k => $v) {
$pickersByLocation[$v][] = $k;
}
$locationOneOrders = array_fill(0, 101, 'This is an order'); //some dummy order data
$dividedOrdersLocationOne = array_chunk($locationOneOrders, count($locationOneOrders) / count($pickersByLocation['location 1']));
foreach ($pickersByLocation['location 1'] as $k => $v) {
echo "Picker {$v} assigned: \n";
print_r($dividedOrdersLocationOne[$k]);
}
/*
Picker picker A assigned:
Array
(
[0] => This is an order
[1] => This is an order
...
Picker picker D assigned:
Array
(
[0] => This is an order
[1] => This is an order
...
You might end up with a chunk that is the remainder if numbers are odd. Handle that how you like.