PHP: re order associative array

Question

In php, I would like to have the ability to re-order an associative array by moving elements to certain positions in the array. Not necessary a sort, just a re-ordering of

Answer 1

$arr = array(
  'a' => 1,
  'b' => 2,
  'move me' => 9,
  'c' => 3,
  'd' => 4,
);

Hey, I want to move ['move me'] before ['b']. I can do it with only 4 lines of code!

$i = 0; foreach($arr as &$val) $val = array('sort' => (++$i * 10), 'val' => $val);
$arr['move me']['sort'] = $arr['b']['sort'] - 5;
uasort($arr, function($a, $b) { return $a['sort'] > $b['sort']; });
foreach($arr as &$val) $val = $val['val'];

---

I made a function for easy use:

function move_item(&$ref_arr, $key1, $move, $key2 = null)
{
  $arr = $ref_arr;
  if($key2 == null) $key2 = $key1;
  if(!isset($arr[$key1]) || !isset($arr[$key2])) return false;

  $i = 0; foreach($arr as &$val) $val = array('sort' => (++$i * 10), 'val' => $val);

  if(is_numeric($move))
  {
    if($move == 0 && $key1 == $key2) return true;
    elseif($move == 0) { $tmp = $arr[$key1]['sort']; $arr[$key1]['sort'] = $arr[$key2]['sort']; $arr[$key2]['sort'] = $tmp; }
    else $arr[$key1]['sort'] = $arr[$key2]['sort'] + ($move * 10 + ($key1 == $key2 ? ($move < 0 ? -5 : 5) : 0));
  }
  else
  {
    switch($move)
    {
      case 'up':     $arr[$key1]['sort'] = $arr[$key2]['sort'] - ($key1 == $key2 ? 15 : 5); break;
      case 'down':   $arr[$key1]['sort'] = $arr[$key2]['sort'] + ($key1 == $key2 ? 15 : 5); break;
      case 'top':    $arr[$key1]['sort'] = 5; break;
      case 'bottom': $arr[$key1]['sort'] = $i * 10 + 5; break;
      default: return false;
    }
  }
  uasort($arr, function($a, $b) { return $a['sort'] > $b['sort']; });
  foreach($arr as &$val) $val = $val['val'];
  $ref_arr = $arr;
  return true;
}

Examples:

move_item($arr, 'move me', 'up'); //move it one up
move_item($arr, 'move me', 'down'); //move it one down
move_item($arr, 'move me', 'top'); //move it to top
move_item($arr, 'move me', 'bottom'); //move it to bottom

move_item($arr, 'move me', -1); //move it one up
move_item($arr, 'move me', 1); //move it one down
move_item($arr, 'move me', 2); //move it two down

move_item($arr, 'move me', 'up', 'b'); //move it before ['b']
move_item($arr, 'move me', -1, 'b'); //move it before ['b']
move_item($arr, 'move me', 'down', 'b'); //move it after ['b']
move_item($arr, 'move me', 1, 'b'); //move it after ['b']
move_item($arr, 'move me', 2, 'b'); //move it two positions after ['b']

//Special syntax, to swap two elements:
move_item($arr, 'a', 0, 'd'); //Swap ['a'] with ['d']

I hope this helps a lot of people, because it is an awesome function! :D