PHP Possible to move an multidimensional array element to another specific spot? - php

Question

I am trying to figure out how I can move an array element to another spot. Is this possible?
Here is my example the var_dump array:
array
'person' =>
array
'first_name' =>
array
'...'
'last_name' =>
array
'...'
'rank' =>
array
'...'
'score' =>
array
'...'
'item' =>
array
'...'
'work' =>
array
'company' =>
array
'...'
'phone' =>
array
'...'
And of course there are values in the '...', but just to simplify it. So I need to move "score" before "rank", so the output will show score first before rank, is that possible?
Now I know the array push/pop/shift/unshift but none of those would help me here I think.
Please note, I have no control of this array...I am receiving it as is...
basically it is coming from a Wordpress plugin and it has a filter for these fields so I am using this to catch it.
add_filters( 'work_rank_fields', 'custom_order');
function custom_order($fields) {
var_dump($fields); //what you see on top
}

Answer 1

Using a sample array like you gave us, you could try something like this.
$sample = array(
'person' => array(
'first_name' => array('first'),
'last_name' => array('last'),
'rank' => array('rank'),
'score' => array('score'),
'item' => array('item')
),
'work' => array(
'company' => array('company'),
'phone' => array('phone')
)
);
function reorder_person( $sample )
{
extract( $sample['person'] );
// the desired order below for the keys
$sample['person'] = compact('first_name','last_name','score','rank','item');
return $sample;
}
$sample = reorder_person( $sample );
Now your var_dump of $sample should display score before rank
array(2) {
'person' =>
array(5) {
'first_name' =>
array(1) {
[0] =>
string(5) "first"
}
'last_name' =>
array(1) {
[0] =>
string(4) "last"
}
'score' =>
array(1) {
[0] =>
string(5) "score"
}
'rank' =>
array(1) {
[0] =>
string(4) "rank"
}
'item' =>
array(1) {
[0] =>
string(4) "item"
}
}
'work' =>
array(2) {
'company' =>
array(1) {
[0] =>
string(7) "company"
}
'phone' =>
array(1) {
[0] =>
string(5) "phone"
}
}
}
A little clumsy but, your wordpress filter custom_order function then might look like:
function custom_order( $fields ) {
$a = array();
foreach( $fields['person'] as $key => $value )
{
if ( $key == 'rank' ) continue; // wait until we get score first
if ( $key == 'score' )
{
$a['score'] = $value; // add score first, then rank
$a['rank'] = $fields['person']['rank'];
continue;
}
$a[$key] = $value;
}
$fields['person'] = $a;
return $fields;
}

Answer 2

I'm not sure which is the order criteria but I guess one of this functions can help you. Take a look particularly to last three. You just have to create the appropriate comparison function