How to add an array value to the middle of an associative array?

Question

Lets say I have this array:

$array = array(\'a\'=>1,\'z\'=>2,\'d\'=>4);

Later in the script, I want to add the value \'c\'=>3<

Answer 1

You can define your own sortmap when doing a bubble-sort by key. It's probably not terribly efficient but it works.

1,'z'=>2,'d'=>4);

$array['c'] = 3;

print_r( $array );

uksort( $array, 'sorter' );

print_r( $array );

function sorter( $a, $b )
{
    static $ordinality = array(
        'a' => 1
      , 'c' => 2
      , 'z' => 3
      , 'd' => 4
    );
    return $ordinality[$a] - $ordinality[$b];
}

?>

Here's an approach based on ArrayObject using this same concept

$array = new CitizenArray( array('a'=>1,'z'=>2,'d'=>4) );
$array['c'] = 3;

foreach ( $array as $key => $value )
{
    echo "$key: $value 
";
}

class CitizenArray extends ArrayObject
{
    static protected $ordinality = array(
        'a' => 1
      , 'c' => 2
      , 'z' => 3
      , 'd' => 4
    );

    function offsetSet( $key, $value )
    {
        parent::offsetSet( $key, $value );
        $this->uksort( array( $this, 'sorter' ) );
    }

    function sorter( $a, $b )
    {
        return self::$ordinality[$a] - self::$ordinality[$b];
    }
}