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arsort

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

arsortSort an array in descending order and maintain index association

Description

arsort(array &$array, int $flags = SORT_REGULAR): true

Sorts array in place in descending order, such that its keys maintain their correlation with the values they are associated with.

This is used mainly when sorting associative arrays where the actual element order is significant.

Note:

If two members compare as equal, they retain their original order. Prior to PHP 8.0.0, their relative order in the sorted array was undefined.

Note:

Resets array's internal pointer to the first element.

Parameters

array

The input array.

flags

The optional second parameter flags may be used to modify the sorting behavior using these values:

Sorting type flags:

Return Values

Always returns true.

Changelog

Version Description
8.2.0 The return type is true now; previously, it was bool.

Examples

Example #1 arsort() example

<?php
$fruits
= array("d" => "lemon", "a" => "orange", "b" => "banana", "c" => "apple");
arsort($fruits);
foreach (
$fruits as $key => $val) {
echo
"$key = $val\n";
}
?>

The above example will output:

a = orange
d = lemon
b = banana
c = apple

The fruits have been sorted in reverse alphabetical order, and the index associated with each element has been maintained.

See Also

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User Contributed Notes 3 notes

up
13
morgan at anomalyinc dot com
25 years ago
If you need to sort a multi-demension array, for example, an array such as

$TeamInfo[$TeamID]["WinRecord"]
$TeamInfo[$TeamID]["LossRecord"]
$TeamInfo[$TeamID]["TieRecord"]
$TeamInfo[$TeamID]["GoalDiff"]
$TeamInfo[$TeamID]["TeamPoints"]

and you have say, 100 teams here, and want to sort by "TeamPoints":

first, create your multi-dimensional array. Now, create another, single dimension array populated with the scores from the first array, and with indexes of corresponding team_id... ie
$foo[25] = 14
$foo[47] = 42
or whatever.
Now, asort or arsort the second array.
Since the array is now sorted by score or wins/losses or whatever you put in it, the indices are all hoopajooped.
If you just walk through the array, grabbing the index of each entry, (look at the asort example. that for loop does just that) then the index you get will point right back to one of the values of the multi-dimensional array.
Not sure if that's clear, but mail me if it isn't...
-mo
up
11
stephenakins at gmail dot com
7 years ago
I have two servers; one running 5.6 and another that is running 7. Using this function on the two servers gets me different results when all of the values are the same.

<?php

$list
= json_decode('{"706":2,"703":2,"702":2,"696":2,"658":2}', true);

print_r($list);

arsort($list);
echo
"<br>";

print_r($list);

?>

PHP 5.6 results:
Array ( [706] => 2 [703] => 2 [702] => 2 [696] => 2 [658] => 2 )
Array ( [658] => 2 [696] => 2 [702] => 2 [703] => 2 [706] => 2 )

PHP 7 results:
Array ( [706] => 2 [703] => 2 [702] => 2 [696] => 2 [658] => 2 )
Array ( [706] => 2 [703] => 2 [702] => 2 [696] => 2 [658] => 2 )
up
-1
FatBat
13 years ago
Needed to get the index of the max/highest value in an assoc array.
max() only returned the value, no index, so I did this instead.

<?php
reset
($x); // optional.
arsort($x);
$key_of_max = key($x); // returns the index.
?>
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