Sort Functions For Arrays in PHP

The elements in an array in PHP can be sorted in alphabetical or numerical order, descending or ascending.

In thistutorial, we will go through the following PHP array sort functions:

• sort() – sort arrays in ascending order
• rsort() – sort arrays in descending order
• asort() – sort associative arrays in ascending order, according to the value
• ksort() – sort associative arrays in ascending order, according to the key
• arsort() – sort associative arrays in descending order, according to the value
• krsort() – sort associative arrays in descending order, according to the key

Sort Array in Ascending Order – sort()

The following example sorts the elements of the $cars array in ascending alphabetical order:

<?php
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
sort($cars);
?>

Sort Array in Descending Order – rsort()

The following example sorts the elements of the $cars array in descending alphabetical order:

<?php
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
rsort($cars);
?>

The following example sorts the elements of the $numbers array in descending numerical order:

<?php
$numbers = array(4, 6, 2, 22, 11);
rsort($numbers);
?>

<?php
$age = array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");
asort($age);
?>

<?php
$age = array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");
ksort($age);
?>

<?php
$age = array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");
arsort($age);
?>

<?php
$age = array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");
krsort($age);
?>