Edit array placement

Question

I am having a simple issue with ordering an array elements. Let's assume we have an array like this

[0]=>zero
[1]=>one
[2]=>two
[3]=>three

What i want is a way to move some elements to first position for example move one and two to first positions so i will have:

[1]=>one
[2]=>two
[0]=>zero
[3]=>three

and this should be done without knowing the current position of the element in the array which means it should be done by specifying the name of wanted element to move. I thought about array_splice() but it won't work since i should specify the key of the element in array.

Yaser · Answer 1 · 2016-11-30T09:34:37.107

0

The only way I can think to do this is to remove it then add it:

$key = array_search('one', $array); // $key = 1;
$v = $my_array[$key];
unset($my_array[$key]);

array_unshift($my_array, $v);

Output:

[0] => one
[1] => zero
[2] => two
[3] => three

UPDATE:

If you use array_unshift it will not override your current element.

edited Nov 30 '16 at 09:34

answered Nov 30 '16 at 09:27

Yaser

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

You could build two arrays (one with the searched values and one without) and merge them. Keep in mind that if you want to keep numeric keys, you should use the + operator instead of array_merge :

<?php

$array = array('zero', 'one', 'two', 'three');
$searched_values = array('one', 'two');
$array_first = $array_second = array();

foreach ($array as $key=>$value) {
    if (in_array($value, $searched_values))
        $array_first[$key] = $value;
    else
        $array_second[$key] = $value;
}

$array_end = $array_first + $array_second;

echo '<pre>'; print_r($array_end); echo '</pre>';

Returns :

Array
(
    [1] => one
    [2] => two
    [0] => zero
    [3] => three
)

EDIT : Keeping the $searched_values order

In this case, you just need to loop over the serached values in order to build an array of found values and simultaneously delete the initial array's entry :

<?php
    $array = array('zero', 'one', 'two', 'three'); 
    $searched_values = array('one', 'three', 'two');
    $array_found = array();
    foreach ($searched_values as $key=>$value) {
        $found_key = array_search($value, $array);
        if ($found_key !== false) {
            $array_found[$found_key] = $value;
            unset($array[$found_key]);
        }
    }
    $array_end = $array_found + $array;
    echo '<pre>'; print_r($array_end); echo '</pre>';
?>

Returns :

Array
(
    [1] => one
    [3] => three
    [2] => two
    [0] => zero
)

@roberto66 It's working fine but it has some issue like order of elements — Yassine, Dec 01 '16 at 14:41
$array = array('zero', 'one', 'two', 'three'); $searched_values = array('one', 'three', 'two'); $array_first = $array_second = array(); foreach ($array as $key=>$value) { if (in_array($value, $searched_values)) $array_first[$key] = $value; else $array_second[$key] = $value; } $array_end = $array_first + $array_second; print_r($array_end); ?> — Yassine, Dec 01 '16 at 14:41
Instead of outputing one three two zero it output one two three zero — Yassine, Dec 01 '16 at 14:42
It takes the initial order of `$array`. I'll try to work on a solution keeping `$searched_values` order. I'll get back to you in a jiff. — roberto06, Dec 01 '16 at 14:54
@Yassine I updated the answer, check the second code snippet. — roberto06, Dec 01 '16 at 14:59

Edit array placement

2 Answers2