Search DaTutorials:  
HOME
Php Tutorials
Articles
Basics
Date and Time
File Manipulations
Forms
Functions
General
Interactivity
MySql
Navigation
News,Shoutboxes and Blogs
Language Structure and Data Types
Searching
Security
String Manipulation
User Information and Stats
Search For a Tutorial
Php Reference

natsort

(PHP 4 , PHP 5)

natsort --  Sort an array using a "natural order" algorithm

Description

void natsort ( array array)

This function implements a sort algorithm that orders alphanumeric strings in the way a human being would while maintaining key/value associations. This is described as a "natural ordering". An example of the difference between this algorithm and the regular computer string sorting algorithms (used in sort()) can be seen below:

Example 1. natsort() example

<?php
$array1
= $array2 = array("img12.png", "img10.png", "img2.png", "img1.png");

sort($array1);
echo
"Standard sorting\n";
print_r($array1);

natsort($array2);
echo
"\nNatural order sorting\n";
print_r($array2);
?>

The code above will generate the following output:

Standard sorting
Array
(
    [0] => img1.png
    [1] => img10.png
    [2] => img12.png
    [3] => img2.png
)

Natural order sorting
Array
(
    [3] => img1.png
    [2] => img2.png
    [1] => img10.png
    [0] => img12.png
)

For more information see: Martin Pool's Natural Order String Comparison page.

See also natcasesort(), strnatcmp(), and strnatcasecmp().



Copyright © 2001-2004 The PHP Group
All rights reserved.

     Credit Card | Loans | Cheap Loan | Secured Loans | Bad Credit Mortgages
Home     Link To Us     Ad With Us     Contact Us     Tell A Friend     Affiliates     Blog     MsOfficeHelp