multisort unknown N levels multidimensional array

associative array sort with recursive function?

[urbanzen]

I'm having problem, or thinking way out of the boundary to do these kind of sorting...

What I 'm trying to do, is to sort an ecommerce's category with N levels, depending on how many subcategories there are..

I managed to sort the first level, but I still think my logic is way too unnecessary?

function sort_crap (&$array) {
foreach ($array as $key=>$val) {
$order_by[$key] = $val[0]['order_by'];
if ($val['subcategory'])
sort_crap($val['subcategory']);
}
array_multisort($order_by, SORT_ASC,SORT_NUMERIC, $array);
}
sort_crap($masterArray);

Here is an array for you to test

$masterArray = array ( 
 100 =>  
 array ( 
  0 =>  
  array ( 
   'order' => '20', 
  ), 
  'subcat' =>  
  array ( 
   101 =>  
   array ( 
    0 =>  
    array ( 
     'order' => '0', 
    ), 
   ), 
   286 =>  
   array ( 
    0 =>  
    array ( 
     'order' => '1', 
    ), 
   ), 
  ), 
 ), 
 111 =>  
 array ( 
  0 =>  
  array ( 
   'order' => '10', 
  ), 
  'subcat' =>  
  array ( 
   112 =>  
   array ( 
    0 =>  
    array ( 
     'order' => '3', 
    ), 
   ), 
   115 =>  
   array ( 
    0 =>  
    array ( 
     'order' => '0', 
    ), 
    'subcat' =>  
    array ( 
     653 =>  
     array ( 
      0 =>  
      array ( 
       'order' => '0', 
      ), 
     ), 
     654 =>  
     array ( 
      0 =>  
      array ( 
       'order' => '0', 
      ), 
     ), 
    ), 
   ), 
   141 =>  
   array ( 
    0 =>  
    array ( 
     'order' => '0', 
    ), 
   ), 
  ), 
 ), 
); 

Thanks for the help in advance, everyone.

Urban

[eelixduppy]

Have you had any luck with finding a solution to this problem yet?

[urbanzen]

No I haven't. I had to break apart the arrays into N arrays, according to N levels. For example, if my array is 4 levels deep, I'll break it into 4 arrays, then sort each one, and rejoin those 4 arrays back into the original array to obtain my sorted list.

Kinda cpu intensive, but I don't have a better method to it =<

[coopster]

A recursive sort seems like the way to go, but you haven't specified enough detail. Should keys and values be sorted, keys first, values second? Values only? Here is a smaller example:

$masterArray = array( 
  '200' => array( 
         'sub3' => 3, 
         'sub1' => 1, 
         'sub2' => 2 
       ), 
  '100' => array( 
         'sub6' => 6, 
         'sub5' => array( 
                'cat3' => 3, 
                'cat1' => 1, 
                'cat2' => 2 
              ), 
         'sub4' => 4 
       ), 
  '300' => array( 
         'sub7' => 7, 
         'sub8' => 8, 
         'sub9' => 9 
       ) 
); 
function recursiveSort(&$array) { 
  /** 
   * Sort the array by it's keys first 
   */ 
  ksort($array); 
  foreach ($array as &$v) { 
    if (is_array($v)) { 
      recursiveSort($v); 
    } 
  } 
  /** 
   * Sort the array by it's values 
   */ 
  asort($array); 
  return $array; 
} 
recursiveSort($masterArray); 
print_r($masterArray);

[urbanzen]

Thank you very much coopster,

So I guess there isn't an easier way to sort the message other than doing it resursively. I was hoping array_multisort can handle it.

By the way how can I organize my array and code similar to yours? even though I use the {code},{pre} tags, it's still quite un-organized

[coopster]

I use the "pre" tags with extra spaces. 2 spaces for every 1 space of indentation that you would like to see displayed. I use Eclipse for my editor and I have it set to use space indentation rather than tabs as my preference. So if I press the tab key it automatically inserts 4 spaces. It's a common coding standard.

[urbanzen]

Thank you Coopster. I prefer tab keys for our php. Seems that most of the php codes I have encountered are indented by tabs...

Thanks very much again for the tip!