Grabbing the first element in an object (PHP) - php

Question

I have an object structured like so:
Array
(
[0] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => Europe )
[1] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => South America )
[3] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => North America )
[4] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [0] => Asia )
)
I am trying to sort the objects alphabetically. I've tried using sort() on the array as a whole, but it's not working. I am assuming it was just grabbing the name of the object, which is the same in all cases and sorting those instead. I am trying to access the text inside each object but can't seem to do it without bringing the 'SimpleXMLElement Object()' text with it. How would I access that text and perhaps recreate a new array with just the text values?
EDIT: I've tried the following:
$regions = sort($regions);
$regions = usort($regions);
Thanks!

Answer 1

You can use usort:
<?php
function pony_sorting($a, $b)
{
if ((string)$a[0] == (string)$b[0) {
return 0;
}
return ((string)$a[0] < (string)$b[0]) ? -1 : 1;
}
usort($a, "pony_sorting");
This will keep the data structure of your array. But if you don't care about your SimpleXML elements, just export it in a clean and more memory efficient array.
$clean = array();
foreach ($a as $simplexml)
{
$clean[] = (string)$simplexml[0];
}
Note the (string) cast, allowing to get the actual value of the simpleXmlElement.