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Sorting Multi Dimensional arrays

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Sorting Multi Dimensional arrays General Programming Help forum discussing Perl, Python, Scripting and/or any languages that do not fit into any of the categories above.

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  #1  
Old November 20th, 2003, 11:26 AM
tobycatlin tobycatlin is offline
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Sorting Multi Dimensional arrays
Hey guys
I have been searching through the forum and although there are a few posts on this subject that have helped a lot I have hit a brick wall.

This is my situation:
I am writing a search engine which produces an multi dimensional array of results that is generated like this:

PHP Code:
if ($words_value == $keywords_value && $words_value != " "){
    $metric++;
                            $results[$count] = array ( 
                                "questionID" => $kb_content_key, 
                                "title" => $kb_content_value,
                                "metric" => $metric,
                                "word" => $words_value
                                ); 

                            $count++;
                        
                            
                        } 


So the metric value for any given questionID increases by one each time a search keyword matches a question. Therefore the higher the metric value the better the match.

Then I use two foreach loops to add up all the metrics for a particular questionID

PHP Code:
foreach($results as $a => $value) 
{ 
 $testarray[$a] = array ( "title" => "", "metric" => 0); 
} 

foreach($results as $a => $value) 
{ 
     $testarray[$results[$a]["questionID"]]["title"] = $results[$a]["title"];
     $testarray[$results[$a]["questionID"]]["metric"] += $results[$a]["metric"];
} 


All gravy so far

Now my problem is this, how to sort the $testarray (sorry for the poor variable naming). I have managed to sort the metric field but only that column so that it no longer corresponds to the correct questionID.

I suspect that array_multisort() will do it but for the life of me I can't figure it out.

I have attached the whole function, so you can really see how rubbish my coding is.

Anyone got any ideas?
Anyone follow what I am banging on about?
Anyone want to save my sanity?
Anyone think that I have been looking through code for far too long and need to get down to the pub to gain some perspective?
Attached Files
File Type: txt display_kb_search.txt (5.0 KB, 351 views)
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  #2  
Old November 20th, 2003, 03:02 PM
digitallysmooth digitallysmooth is offline
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What you need is the ksort function
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  #3  
Old November 21st, 2003, 02:43 AM
tobycatlin tobycatlin is offline
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I thought that ksort only sorts by the index. Is it possible to use ksort to sort by other fields?
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  #4  
Old November 21st, 2003, 05:38 AM
tobycatlin tobycatlin is offline
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from more posts that i have read i think i need something like this:

PHP Code:
function menu_sub_cmp ($a,$b)
{
    if ($a[2] == $b[2]){
        return $a[3] > $b[3] ? 1 : 0;
    }
    return $a[2] > $b[2] ? 1 : 0;
}

usort ($testarray, 'menu_sub_cmp'); 


This sorts the results by questionID very nicely, as did ksort.

I am not sure how the function works that allows you to define the search.

Could anyone explain it to me?

what kind of function would i need to order by metric but preserve the link to the questionID
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  #5  
Old November 21st, 2003, 09:43 AM
digitallysmooth digitallysmooth is offline
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This will work for you:

PHP Code:
/* sort the array */
$sorted_array = array_csort( $testarray , 'metric' , SORT_ASC, SORT_NUMERIC );

/* may need this function */
function array_csort() {  //coded by Ichier2003
    $args = func_get_args();
    $marray = array_shift($args);

    $msortline = "return(array_multisort(";
    foreach ($args as $arg) {
        $i++;
        if (is_string($arg)) {
            foreach ($marray as $row) {
                $sortarr[$i][] = $row[$arg];
            }
        } else {
            $sortarr[$i] = $arg;
        }
        $msortline .= "\$sortarr[".$i."],";
    }
    $msortline .= "\$marray));";

    eval($msortline);
    return $marray;
} 
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  #6  
Old November 21st, 2003, 09:46 AM
digitallysmooth digitallysmooth is offline
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BTW, the function author is awaiting that function to be included into the next version of PHP... Not sure if this is accurate, just going by his words.
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  #7  
Old November 22nd, 2003, 03:54 AM
tobycatlin tobycatlin is offline
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That is bang on down the line exactly what i need. I'll test it out as soon as i can.
thanks
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  #8  
Old November 22nd, 2003, 01:18 PM
tobycatlin tobycatlin is offline
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Works a treat
Thanks again
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  #9  
Old November 22nd, 2003, 01:27 PM
digitallysmooth digitallysmooth is offline
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No problem.
Arrays are always a nice challenge.
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