PHP Multidimensional sort? - php

Question

I have a rather annoying array structure to work with and I need to sort it by any arbitrary key combination. 2 records are displayed below but multiple records with or without the same structure will be present when sorting is actioned.
Here are two records.
Array(
[0] => Array
(
[cid] => 1
[title] => Mr
[first_name] => Abet
[last_name] => Simbad
[emails] => Array
(
[374] => Array
(
[eid] => 374
[name] => ski lodge
[email] => simbad#skifree.com
)
[373] => Array
(
[eid] => 373
[name] => work
[email] => simbad#work.com
)
[375] => Array
(
[eid] => 375
[name] => personal
[email] => simbad#gmail.com
)
)
)
[1] => Array
(
[cid] => 2
[title] => Mrs
[first_name] => Angie
[last_name] => Stokes
[emails] => Array
(
[590] => Array
(
[eid] => 590
[name] => work
[email] => angie#gmail.com
)
)
)
So if I wanted to sort by email in ascending order in the emails array, how can I get the second complete record to come first in the result array? angie#gmail.com comes before simbad#....
Also Some records will not contain an emails array. They would be last in the result set.
Any help would be much appreciated.
The array shown is a cut down version but I have addresses, notes, phones and websites in the same annoying structure. Ideally I could sort with something like
$sort = array('emails','email')
$data = sort_data_func('ASC',$sort,$data);
But anything steps in the right direction will help. :)
Here's some code I have so far
$sort = array('emails','email');
foreach($contacts as $ckey => $c){
if(is_array($c[$sort[0]])){
foreach($c[$sort[0]] as $key1 => $sort0){
if($sort0[$sort[1]]!=''){
$res[$sort[0]][$ckey][$sort[1]][] = $sort0[$sort[1]];
}
}
}
}
print_r($res);
Which produces:
Array
(
[emails] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[0] => simbad#skifree.com
[1] => simbad#work.com
[2] => simbad#gmail.com
)
[1] => Array
(
[0] => angie#gmail.com
)
)
)
But I have no idea where to go from here.
EDIT
OK I have the records in the currect order now but how can I keep the initial record ID in the resulting array?
Here's what I'm using.
$direction=='ASC'
function cmp_asc($a, $b){
$key = current(array_keys($a));
sort($a[$key]);
$a[$key] = current($a[$key]);
sort($b[$key]);
$b[$key] = current($b[$key]);
if ($a == $b) {
return 0;
}
return ($a < $b) ? -1 : 1;
}
function cmp_desc($a, $b){
$key = current(array_keys($a));
asort($a[$key]);
$a[$key] = current($a[$key]);
asort($b[$key]);
$b[$key] = current($b[$key]);
if ($a == $b) {
return 0;
}
return ($a < $b) ? -1 : 1;
}
if($direction=='ASC'){
usort($res[$sort[0]], 'cmp_asc');
}else{
usort($res[$sort[0]], 'cmp_desc');
}
In
Array
(
[emails] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[email] => Array
(
[0] => simbad#skifree.com
[1] => simbad#work.com
[2] => simbad#gmail.com
)
)
[1] => Array
(
[email] => Array
(
[0] => angie#gmail.com
)
)
)
)
Out
Array
(
[emails] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[email] => Array
(
[0] => angie#gmnail.com
)
)
[1] => Array
(
[email] => Array
(
[0] => simbad#skifree.com
[1] => simbad#work.com
[2] => simbad#gmail.com
)
)
)
)

Answer 1

One of the usort functions, combined with a self-written comparison function that detects the order in which two elements should be sorted, should do the trick.