php print array out in correct order

Question

I have the following array:

[answer] => Array
    (
        [0] => A
        [2] => E
    )

I run the following code:

for ($i = 0; $i < 3; $i++){
   if (!isset(answer[$i]))answer[$i] = "X"; 
}

and get the following:

[answer] => Array
    (
        [0] => A
        [2] => E
        [1] => X
    )

Is there a way to preserve the order so we get:

[answer] => Array
    (
        [0] => A
        [1] => X
        [2] => E
    )

It is indeed [ksort()](https://3v4l.org/I6WpA). Next time you ask a question please test your code, there are 2 syntax errors in it. — KIKO Software, Aug 29 '23 at 17:52

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 29 '23 at 17:53

1

You can use ksort and it will sort the array in place.

$answer =["0" => "A","2" => "E"];    

for ($i = 0; $i < 3; $i++){
   if (!isset($answer[$i]))$answer[$i] = "X"; 
}

ksort($answer);

answered Aug 29 '23 at 17:53

imvain2

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 29 '23 at 18:05

I think the simplest way is to sort array using ksort: https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.ksort.php.

$input = [
  0 => 'A',
  2 => 'E'
];
ksort($input);
var_export($input);

Or if you don't want to sort for some reason, you can use another array to store data in order you expect:

$input = [
  0 => 'A',
  2 => 'E'
];

for($i = 0; $i < 3; $i++){
      $temp[] = isset($input[$i]) ? $arr[$i] : 'X';
}

var_export($temp);

Output for two methods (as expected):

array (
  0 => 'A',
  1 => 'X',
  2 => 'E',
)

2 Answers2