sort-array-by-key.php

<?php

/**
 * sort_arr_by_key
 *
 * Sorts a given array by the values of its child arrays
 *
 * The code below would order the array items by age:
 *
 * <code>
 * $array = array(
 *     array(
 *         'name' => 'jim',
 *         'age' => 30,
 *     ),
 *     array(
 *         'name' => 'rob',
 *         'age' => 25,
 *     ),
 * );
 * var_dump($array, 'age');
 * </code>
 *
 * @param array $sort_array The array being sorted
 * @param string $sort_key The key to sort by
 *
 * @return array The sorted array
 */

public static function sort_arr_by_key($sort_array, $sort_key) {

    // Declare array to prevent aray_multisort throwing error if $sort_array is empty
    $values = array();

    // Populate array for the "column" being sorted
    foreach ($sort_array as $key => $row) {
        $values[$key] = $row[$sort_key];
    }

    // Sort the array naturally and case-insensitively
    array_multisort($values, SORT_FLAG_CASE | SORT_NATURAL, $sort_array);

    return $sort_array;

}