array_multisort

Description
Syntax
Examples
Links

Description

The array_multisort of Array for PHP sort multiple or multi-dimensional arrays.

Syntax

 array_multisort(
    array &$array1,
    mixed $array1_sort_order = SORT_ASC,
    mixed $array1_sort_flags = SORT_REGULAR,
    mixed ...$rest
): bool

Parameters

array1

An array being sorted.

array1_sort_order

The order used to sort the previous array argument.

Constant	Description
SORT_ASC	sort ascending
SORT_DESC	sort descending

This argument can be swapped with array1_sort_flags or omitted entirely, in which case SORT_ASC is assumed.

array1_sort_flags

The sort options for the previous array argument.

Constant	Description
SORT_REGULAR	compare items normally (don't change types)
SORT_NUMERIC	compare items numerically
SORT_STRING	compare items as strings
SORT_LOCALE_STRING	compare items as strings, based on the current locale. It uses the locale, which can be changed using setlocale()
SORT_NATURAL	compare items as strings using "natural ordering" like natsort()
SORT_FLAG_CASE	can be combined (bitwise OR) with SORT_STRING or SORT_NATURAL to sort strings case-insensitively

This argument can be swapped with array1_sort_order or omitted entirely, in which case SORT_REGULAR is assumed.

rest

More arrays, optionally followed by sort order and flags. Only elements corresponding to equivalent elements in previous arrays are compared. In other words, the sort is lexicographical.

Return

Returns true on success or false on failure.

Examples

1 · array1

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];

array_multisort($array1);

print_r($array1);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)

2 · array1_sort_order · SORT_ASC

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_order = SORT_ASC;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_order);

print_r($array1);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)

3 · array1_sort_order · SORT_DESC

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_order = SORT_DESC;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_order);

print_r($array1);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => c
    [1] => b
    [2] => a
    [3] => C
    [4] => B
    [5] => A
)

4 · array1_sort_flags · SORT_REGULAR

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_REGULAR;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)

5 · array1_sort_flags · SORT_NUMERIC

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_NUMERIC;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => b
    [1] => B
    [2] => c
    [3] => A
    [4] => a
    [5] => C
)

6 · array1_sort_flags · SORT_STRING

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_STRING;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)

7 · array1_sort_flags · SORT_LOCALE_STRING

<?

$category = LC_ALL;
$locale = "en_US";

setlocale($category, $locale);

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_LOCALE_STRING;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => a
    [1] => A
    [2] => b
    [3] => B
    [4] => c
    [5] => C
)

8 · array1_sort_flags · SORT_NATURAL

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_NATURAL;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)

9 · array1_sort_flags · SORT_FLAG_CASE

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_NATURAL | SORT_FLAG_CASE;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => a
    [2] => b
    [3] => B
    [4] => c
    [5] => C
)

10 · array2

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array2 = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

array_multisort($array1, $array2);

print_r($array1);
print_r($array2);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)
Array
(
    [0] => 3
    [1] => 1
    [2] => 5
    [3] => 4
    [4] => 0
    [5] => 2
)

11 · array2_sort_order · SORT_ASC

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_order = SORT_ASC;
$array2 = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$array2_sort_order = SORT_ASC;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_order, $array2, $array2_sort_order);

print_r($array1);
print_r($array2);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)
Array
(
    [0] => 3
    [1] => 1
    [2] => 5
    [3] => 4
    [4] => 0
    [5] => 2
)

12 · array2_sort_order · SORT_DESC

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_order = SORT_DESC;
$array2 = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$array2_sort_order = SORT_DESC;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_order, $array2, $array2_sort_order);

print_r($array1);
print_r($array2);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => c
    [1] => b
    [2] => a
    [3] => C
    [4] => B
    [5] => A
)
Array
(
    [0] => 2
    [1] => 0
    [2] => 4
    [3] => 5
    [4] => 1
    [5] => 3
)

13 · array2_sort_flags · SORT_REGULAR

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_REGULAR;
$array2 = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$array2_sort_flags = SORT_REGULAR;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags, $array2, $array2_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);
print_r($array2);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)
Array
(
    [0] => 3
    [1] => 1
    [2] => 5
    [3] => 4
    [4] => 0
    [5] => 2
)

14 · array2_sort_flags · SORT_NUMERIC

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_NUMERIC;
$array2 = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$array2_sort_flags = SORT_NUMERIC;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags, $array2, $array2_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);
print_r($array2);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => b
    [1] => B
    [2] => c
    [3] => A
    [4] => a
    [5] => C
)
Array
(
    [0] => 0
    [1] => 1
    [2] => 2
    [3] => 3
    [4] => 4
    [5] => 5
)

15 · array2_sort_flags · SORT_STRING

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_STRING;
$array2 = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$array2_sort_flags = SORT_STRING;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags, $array2, $array2_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);
print_r($array2);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)
Array
(
    [0] => 3
    [1] => 1
    [2] => 5
    [3] => 4
    [4] => 0
    [5] => 2
)

16 · array2_sort_flags · SORT_LOCALE_STRING

<?

$category = LC_ALL;
$locale = "en_US";

setlocale($category, $locale);

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_LOCALE_STRING;
$array2 = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$array2_sort_flags = SORT_LOCALE_STRING;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags, $array2, $array2_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);
print_r($array2);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => a
    [1] => A
    [2] => b
    [3] => B
    [4] => c
    [5] => C
)
Array
(
    [0] => 4
    [1] => 3
    [2] => 0
    [3] => 1
    [4] => 2
    [5] => 5
)

17 · array2_sort_flags · SORT_NATURAL

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_NATURAL;
$array2 = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$array2_sort_flags = SORT_NATURAL;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags, $array2, $array2_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);
print_r($array2);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => B
    [2] => C
    [3] => a
    [4] => b
    [5] => c
)
Array
(
    [0] => 3
    [1] => 1
    [2] => 5
    [3] => 4
    [4] => 0
    [5] => 2
)

18 · array2_sort_flags · SORT_FLAG_CASE

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_NATURAL | SORT_FLAG_CASE;
$array2 = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
$array2_sort_flags = SORT_NATURAL | SORT_FLAG_CASE;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags, $array2, $array2_sort_flags);

print_r($array1);
print_r($array2);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => A
    [1] => a
    [2] => b
    [3] => B
    [4] => c
    [5] => C
)
Array
(
    [0] => 3
    [1] => 4
    [2] => 0
    [3] => 1
    [4] => 2
    [5] => 5
)

19 · Return

<?

$array1 = ["b", "B", "c", "A", "a", "C"];

$return = array_multisort($array1);

var_export($return);

?>

true

20 · array_column

<?

$array =
[
    ['volume' => 67, 'edition' => 2],
    ['volume' => 86, 'edition' => 1],
    ['volume' => 85, 'edition' => 6],
    ['volume' => 98, 'edition' => 2],
    ['volume' => 86, 'edition' => 6],
    ['volume' => 67, 'edition' => 7]
];

$array1 = array_column($array, 'volume');
$array1_sort_order = SORT_DESC;
$array2 = array_column($array, 'edition');
$array2_sort_order = SORT_ASC;

// add $array as last parameter to sort by common key
array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_order, $array2, $array2_sort_order, $array);

print_r($array);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [volume] => 98
            [edition] => 2
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [volume] => 86
            [edition] => 1
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [volume] => 86
            [edition] => 6
        )

    [3] => Array
        (
            [volume] => 85
            [edition] => 6
        )

    [4] => Array
        (
            [volume] => 67
            [edition] => 2
        )

    [5] => Array
        (
            [volume] => 67
            [edition] => 7
        )

)

21 · array_map

<?

$callback = 'strtolower';
$array = ['Alpha', 'atomic', 'Beta', 'bank'];

$array1 = array_map($callback, $array);
$array1_sort_flags = SORT_STRING;

array_multisort($array1, $array1_sort_flags, $array);

print_r($array);

?>

Array
(
    [0] => Alpha
    [1] => atomic
    [2] => bank
    [3] => Beta
)