Move key-specified element to the front of an associative array - php

Question

I have an array with string indices, that I need partially sorted. That is, some elements must be moved first, but the others should remain untouched in their current (PHP-internal) order:
# The element with key "c" should be first
$foo = array(
"a" => 1,
"b" => 2,
"c" => 3,
"d" => 4,
);
uksort($foo, function ($a, $b) {
if ($a === "c") {
return -1;
} elseif ($b === "c") {
return 1;
}
return 0;
});
var_dump($foo);
What I expected:
array(4) { ["c"]=> int(3) ["a"]=> int(1) ["b"]=> int(2) ["d"]=> int(4) }
//--------------------------^ "a" remains first of the unsorted ones
What I got:
array(4) { ["c"]=> int(3) ["d"]=> int(4) ["b"]=> int(2) ["a"]=> int(1) }
//--------------------------^ "d" moved above "a"
This seems due to the sorting algorithm uksort() uses internally, which destroys the fragile order of elements. Is there any other way to achieve this sorting?

Answer 1

Using any sort function is overkill for this task. You merely need to merge the input array into a lone array containing the element which should come first. The array union operator (+) will do nicely for your associative array (otherwise array_merge() will do).
Codes: (Demos)
if key c is guaranteed to exist:
$foo = array(
"a" => 1,
"b" => 2,
"c" => 3,
"d" => 4,
);
$foo = ['c' => $foo['c']] + $foo;
var_export($foo);
if key c might not exist check for it first:
$bar = array(
"a" => 1,
"b" => 2,
"d" => 4,
);
if (array_key_exists('c', $bar)) {
$bar = ['c' => $bar['c']] + $bar;
}
var_export($bar);
Output:
array (
'c' => 3,
'a' => 1,
'b' => 2,
'd' => 4,
)
and
array (
'a' => 1,
'b' => 2,
'd' => 4,
)

Answer 2

This worked for me and returned:
array(4) { ["c"]=> int(3) ["a"]=> int(1) ["b"]=> int(2) ["d"]=> int(4) }
<?php
# The element with key "c" should be first
$foo = array(
"a" => 1,
"b" => 2,
"c" => 3,
"d" => 4,
);
uksort($foo, function ($a, $b) {
if ($a === "c") {
return -1;
} else
return 1;
});
var_dump($foo);
?>