Push something into a specified position in an array in php - php

Question

if I give you an array:
$a = array('something' => 'value', 'apple' => 'sauce');
and said given the key, find the position and insert something before it - what would you do?
I can find something by doing:
function insert($value, $array)
foreach($array as $k=>$v) {
if ($k === $value) {
// I am stuck here ...
}
}
}
But I don't know how to insert before $k in the array. This example assumes the array always has key=>value.
Update 1
Apologies all, I don't think I was very clear. Given the above information the goal is to use this "insert" function to insert a new key=>value, so given the above sample array, I want to do:
insert(array('new_key' => 'new_value'), 'something', $a)
So the above for loop would have to be changed to:
function insert($array, $key, $originalArray)
foreach($originalArray as $k=>$v) {
if ($k === $key) {
// Insert $array right before 'something'
// I am stuck here ...
}
}
}
The result would be a new array that looks like:
$a = array('new_key' => 'new_value', 'something' => 'value', 'apple' => 'sauce');
The goal is to find the key in the given array and insert the new array right before it. Both arrays must be key/value.

Answer 1

Here is a function which will insert an element into an array before or after the chosen value. It returns the modified array.
function associativeArrayInject($originalArray, $targetKey, $newKey, $newValue, $insertBefore=true){
# We will build a new array from the ground up, and return it. This is that array.
$newArray = array();
# Loop over the original array.
foreach($originalArray as $key => $value){
# If we need to inject the data before the current key, we
# do that here
if($key === $targetKey && $insertBefore)
$newArray[$newKey] = $newValue;
# At this point, we insert the $originalArray's key and value
# because if we needed to inject before, it's already been done,
# and if we need to inject after, we'll do that next
$newArray[$key] = $value;
# If we need to inject the data after the current key, we
# do that here
if($key === $targetKey && !$insertBefore)
$newArray[$newKey] = $newValue;
}
# When all the array values are looped over, the new array will have
# been constructed with the new data in the appropriate spot. Now
# we can return it.
return $newArray;
}

Answer 2

Sol. 1: Try to use arsort() or similar functions of sorting arrays in php.
Sol. 2: At first init array of values and than use foreach loop to sort array how you like.
Sol. 3: You can create multidimensional array, something like this:
$array[$position]['something']['value'];
And than use ksort function to sort array by keys. So, this is my idea.
Also, show exactly how you wana sort array. ( like input ( some data ) => output ( some data ) )

Answer 3

Several variations whether you want to modify in place with a reference or return the new array:
function insert(&$array, $search, $value) {
$i = 0;
foreach($array as $k => $v) {
if ($k === $search) {
return array_splice($array, $i+1, 0, $value);
}
$i++;
}
}
$a = array('foo' => 'bar', 'something' => 'value', 'apple' => 'sauce');
insert($a, 'something', 'new value');