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ArrayObject::natsort

PHP function Edit on GitHub ✎

(PHP 5 >= 5.2.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

Sort entries using a "natural order" algorithm

Description

ArrayObject::natsort(): true

This method 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 ArrayObject::asort) method can be seen in the example below.

Sort-unstable

Parameters Parameters

Return Values

Void

Changelog

Version	Description

Examples

ArrayObject::natsort() example

php

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

$arr1 = new ArrayObject($array);
$arr2 = clone $arr1;

$arr1->asort();
echo "Standard sorting\n";
var_dump($arr1);

$arr2->natsort();
echo "\nNatural order sorting\n";
var_dump($arr2);
?>

The above example will output:

output

Standard sorting
object(ArrayObject)#1 (1) {
  ["storage":"ArrayObject":private]=>
  array(4) {
    [3]=>
    string(8) "img1.png"
    [1]=>
    string(9) "img10.png"
    [0]=>
    string(9) "img12.png"
    [2]=>
    string(8) "img2.png"
  }
}

Natural order sorting
object(ArrayObject)#2 (1) {
  ["storage":"ArrayObject":private]=>
  array(4) {
    [3]=>
    string(8) "img1.png"
    [2]=>
    string(8) "img2.png"
    [1]=>
    string(9) "img10.png"
    [0]=>
    string(9) "img12.png"
  }
}

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