Array Sorting PHP by timestamp

Question

I have problem ordering an array in the way I want.

This is an example output of my array:

# 159 rows in total
Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => pastebin
            [1] =>  
            [2] => 1305025723
            [3] => /fcTGqQGD
        )
 
    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => pastebin
            [1] =>  
            [2] => 1305025723
            [3] => /YQNk8yqa
        )
 
    [2] => Array
        (
            [0] => pastebin
            [1] =>  
            [2] => 1305025723
            [3] => /u2BNPrad
        )
 
    [3] => Array
        (
            [0] => pastebin
            [1] =>  
            [2] => 1305025722
            [3] => /d/blogdialain.com
        )
 
    [4] => Array
        (
            [0] => pastebin
            [1] =>  
            [2] => 1305025722
            [3] => /d/shopcraze.com
        )
 
    [5] => Array
        (
            [0] => pastebin
            [1] =>  
            [2] => 1305025722
            [3] => /domains_archive/175
        )
 
    [6] => Array
        (
            [0] => pastebin
            [1] =>  
            [2] => 1305025722
            [3] => /d/togou.com
        )
 
    [7] => Array
        (
            [0] => pastebin
            [1] =>  
            [2] => 1305025722
            [3] => /W6NafmJa
        )
)

Complete array data here: http://pastebin.com/GJNBmqL7

Data comes from various database at once, so I'm limited in the way that I put the data into the array.

The [2] always contains a linux timestamp. Now I want the entire array to be ordered by that timestamp, with the lowest value first.

How can I get that done?

Answer 1

use usort that accepts custom function to sort arrays:

usort

your function may look something like:

function cmp($a, $b)
{
    if ($a[2] == $b[2]) {
        return 0;
    }
    return ($a[2] < $b[2]) ? -1 : 1;
}

Answer 2

here an array_multisort example:

foreach ($array as $key => $node) {
   $timestamps[$key]    = $node[2];
}
array_multisort($timestamps, SORT_ASC, $array);

Answer 3

You can do this simply by using a custom sort. So assuming your datestamp is always index 2:

function sortArray($a1, $a2){
    if ($a1[2] == $a2[2]) return 0;
    return ($a1[2] > $a2[2]) ? -1 : 1;
}

usort($array, "sortArray");

Answer 4

usort is the easiest to work with, but you can also check out array_multisort.

Answer 5

This can be achieved with following code:

usort($variable, function ($a, $b) {
    if ($a['timestamp'] == $b['timestamp']) {
       return 0;
    }
    return ($a['timestamp'] < $b['timestamp']) ? 1 : -1;  
});

This will result in sorted array of $variable, assuming time-stamp is at

$variable[0]['timestamp'];
$variable[0]['timestamp'];

and so on.

Answer 6

Use usort and create your own function, http://php.net/manual/en/function.usort.php

Answer 7

function cmp($a, $b)
{
    if ($a[2] == $b[2]) {
        return 0;
    }
    return ($a[2] < $b[2]) ? -1 : 1;
}

$data = array( /* your data */ );

usort($data, "cmp");

Answer 8

It might be easier to insert the data into a single temporary table, then SELECT it, with ORDER BY timestamp