Order a array by date in Laravel

Question

I want to order an array with customer comments by the field date. From the most current date to the oldest.

$testimonials = array:356 [▼
0 => array:4 [▼
    "comment" => "blahblahblahblahblah"
    "name" => "John"
    "date" => "12/04/2019"
]
1 => array:4 [▼
  "comment" => "blah blah blah blah blah"
  "name" => "Franky V"
  "date" => "13/05/2019"
]
2 => array:4 [▼
  "comment" => "lololololol"
  "name" => "Peter"
  "date" => "06/03/2020"
]
3 => array:4 [▼
  "comment" => "blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah"
  "name" => "Hugo"
  "date" => "24/01/2019"
]
....

I want to get this result:

$testimonials = array:356 [▼
  0 => array:4 [▼
    "comment" => "lololololol"
    "name" => "Peter"
    "date" => "06/03/2020"
  ]
  1 => array:4 [▼
    "comment" => "blah blah blah blah blah"
    "name" => "Franky V"
    "date" => "13/05/2019"
  ]
  2 => array:4 [▼
    "comment" => "blahblahblahblahblah"
    "name" => "John"
    "date" => "12/04/2019"
  ]
  3 => array:4 [▼
    "comment" => "blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah"
    "name" => "Hugo"
    "date" => "24/01/2019"
  ]

How can I do this within my Laravel controller or with PHP?

EDIT: I'm trying with usort but I get it wrong

public function getTrollingDates($testimonials) {
        $currentdate = new DateTime();
        $currentdate = $currentdate->format('Y-m-d');

        foreach($testimonials as &$testimonial) {
            $testimonial['date'] = $this->getRandomDate('2019-01-01',$currentdate);
        }

        $testimonials = usort($testimonials, 'compare');



        return $testimonials;
    }


    public function compare($a, $b)    {
        return  strtotime($b['date']) - strtotime($a['date']) ;
    }

This return me this error:

usort() expects parameter 2 to be a valid callback, function 'compare' not found or invalid function name

I think this link would be the answer to you. [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37567751/laravel-sort-an-array-by-date/52368760](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37567751/laravel-sort-an-array-by-date/52368760) — Kevin Lin, Mar 21 '20 at 12:04
I think this article would be help to you. [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37567751/laravel-sort-an-array-by-date/52368760](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37567751/laravel-sort-an-array-by-date/52368760) — Kevin Lin, Mar 21 '20 at 12:05

nice_dev · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-21T11:55:12.000

1

Assuming $testimonials is a collection object, you can make use of sortByDesc() to sort by dates in decreasing order.

<?php 

$testimonials = $testimonials->sortByDesc(function($a){
    return DateTime::createFromFormat('d/m/Y',$a['date']);
});

dd($testimonials);

edited Mar 21 '20 at 11:55

answered Mar 21 '20 at 11:42

nice_dev

17,053
2
21
35

@AntonioMorales What kind of new date? It works fine on my machine. – nice_dev Mar 21 '20 at 12:04

Sehdev · Answer 2 · 2020-03-21T12:13:49.860

0

In Laravel you can do it like:

$array = collect($testimonials)->sortBy('date')->reverse()->toArray();

And in PHP you can use usort to achieve the same

function compare($a, $b)    {

   // if you want to sort by ascending
    return  strtotime($b['date']) - strtotime($a['date']) ;

    //if you want to sort by descending order
    // return  strtotime($a['date'])  - strtotime($b['date'])  ;
}
usort($my_array, 'compare');

PHP -> usort

edited Mar 21 '20 at 12:13

answered Mar 21 '20 at 11:45

Sehdev

5,486
3
11
34

@AntonioMorales Change `usort($testimonials, 'compare');` to `usort($testimonials, $this->compare);` – Sehdev Mar 21 '20 at 12:02
Now throw out this new bug: Undefined property: App\Http\Controllers\WebController::$compare – RichardMiracles Mar 21 '20 at 12:04
@AntonioMorales Instead of `function` try `anonymous function` : `usort($testimonials, function($a, $b){ return strtotime($b['date']) - strtotime($a['date']) ; });` – Sehdev Mar 21 '20 at 12:05
Not working : usort() expects parameter 2 to be a valid callback, no array or string given – RichardMiracles Mar 21 '20 at 12:07
try this: `$array = collect($testimonials)->sortBy('date')->reverse()->toArray();` – Sehdev Mar 21 '20 at 12:12
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/210054/discussion-between-sehdev-and-antonio-morales). – Sehdev Mar 21 '20 at 12:16

Order a array by date in Laravel

2 Answers2