How to sort an array of times chronologically?

Question

I have a non-associative array where the data that comes in is not sorted (I'm receiving the data from an outside system and cannot force it to come into the array in sorted order.) Is there any way to sort the values? I've tried this:

$wedTrackTimes = array("9:30 AM-10:30 AM", "8:15 AM-9:15 AM", "12:30 PM-1:30 PM", "2:00 PM-3:00 PM", "3:30 PM-4:30 PM");
$wedTrackTimes = array_unique($wedTrackTimes);
$wedTrackTimes = sort($wedTrackTimes);
print_r($wedTrackTimes);

But instead of returning a sorted array, it returns 1. I'm assuming it's because it's non-associative, so there are no keys. Is there any way to sort an array by value only? We really need the 9:30 AM time slot to fall after the 8:15 AM slot, as it should.

UPDATE

Thanks to all for the answers; that did make the array sort, but not as expected. If I use the default sort type, I get this:

Array
(
    [0] => 12:30 PM-1:30 PM
    [1] => 2:00 PM-3:00 PM
    [2] => 3:30 PM-4:30 PM
    [3] => 8:15 AM-9:15 AM
    [4] => 9:30 AM-10:30 AM
)

Using SORT_NUMERIC I get this:

Array
(
    [0] => 2:00 PM-3:00 PM
    [1] => 3:30 PM-4:30 PM
    [2] => 8:15 AM-9:15 AM
    [3] => 9:30 AM-10:30 AM
    [4] => 12:30 PM-1:30 PM
)

Using SORT_STRING I get this:

Array
(
    [0] => 12:30 PM-1:30 PM
    [1] => 2:00 PM-3:00 PM
    [2] => 3:30 PM-4:30 PM
    [3] => 8:15 AM-9:15 AM
    [4] => 9:30 AM-10:30 AM
)

What I need is:

Array
(
    [0] => 8:15 AM-9:15 AM
    [1] => 9:30 AM-10:30 AM
    [2] => 12:30 PM-1:30 PM
    [3] => 2:00 PM-3:00 PM
    [4] => 3:30 PM-4:30 PM


)

Is this possible?

cwallenpoole · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-22 16:48:30Z

21

Sort works by reference (that means it sorts whatever you pass to it), it returns true/false based on failure. What you're doing here:

$wedTrackTimes = sort($wedTrackTimes);

is assigning the value $wedTrackTimes to TRUE or FALSE.

Try

sort($wedTrackTimes);
print_r($wedTrackTimes);

answered Jun 22, 2011 at 16:48

cwallenpoole

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8 Comments

EmmyS Over a year ago

Whoops, not finished yet. It did work, in the sense that it sorted, but did not sort as expected. See OP for details...

cwallenpoole Over a year ago

You look like you need a custom function.

mickmackusa Over a year ago

The question was updated 17 minutes after posting. It was then clarified that a standard sort was not sufficient. A chronological sort was required. This answer does not provide the desired sorting outcome.

cwallenpoole Over a year ago

@mickmackusa That might be true, but (as with Git) editing after the fact often leads to unpredictable results.

mickmackusa Over a year ago

The coding intent and sample data didn't change. The first hurdle was the "printing 1" issue, but the goal was always to sort chronologically. The OP just didn't yet realize what they didn't understand.

|

cwallenpoole · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-22 17:16:17Z

5

So, it looks like you're looking for something a little more advanced than a standard sort.

// WARNING: THIS IS *NOT* BY REFERENCE. IT RETURNS A NEW ARRAY.
function getSortedTimes(array $group)
{
    $tmp = array();
    foreach( $group as $times )
    {
        // Basically, I am pairing the string for the start time with 
        // a numeric value.
        $tmp[$times] = strtotime(substr($times, 0, strpos($times, '-')));
    }
    // asort is like sort, but it keeps the pairings just created.
    asort($tmp);
    // the keys of $tmp now refer to your original times.
    return array_keys($tmp);
}

answered Jun 22, 2011 at 17:16

cwallenpoole

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Comments

user562854 · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-22 16:48:33Z

5

That's right, sort returns bool. Just use that:

sort($wedTrackTimes);

answered Jun 22, 2011 at 16:48

user562854

Comments

phihag · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-22 16:48:35Z

4

sort, like all of php's sorting functions, sorts in-place. It returns true if the sorting was successful, false otherwise. This result is irrelevant if you're only sorting strings/numbers.

$wedTrackTimes = array("9:30 AM-10:30 AM", "8:15 AM-9:15 AM",
                       "12:30 PM-1:30 PM", "2:00 PM-3:00 PM", "3:30 PM-4:30 PM");
$wedTrackTimes = array_unique($wedTrackTimes);
sort($wedTrackTimes);
print_r($wedTrackTimes);

is the way to go.

answered Jun 22, 2011 at 16:48

phihag

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Comments

oezi · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-22 16:49:14Z

1

change your code to this:

$wedTrackTimes = array_unique($wedTrackTimes);
sort($wedTrackTimes);
print_r($wedTrackTimes);

as you can read in the documentation, the return value of sort() is true/1 or false/0 and indicates if sorting was possible or an error occured.

answered Jun 22, 2011 at 16:49

oezi

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Comments

djdy · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-22 16:51:55Z

1

Remove $wedTrackTimes = before sort.

 $wedTrackTimes = array("9:30 AM-10:30 AM", "8:15 AM-9:15 AM", "12:30 PM-1:30 PM", "2:00 PM-3:00 PM", "3:30 PM-4:30 PM");
 $wedTrackTimes = array_unique($wedTrackTimes);
 sort($wedTrackTimes);
 print_r($wedTrackTimes);

answered Jun 22, 2011 at 16:51

djdy

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Comments

Abhinav bhardwaj · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-13 11:09:40Z

0

In your code

$wedTrackTimes = array("9:30 AM-10:30 AM", "8:15 AM-9:15 AM", "12:30 PM-1:30 PM", "2:00 PM-3:00 PM", "3:30 PM-4:30 PM");
$wedTrackTimes = array_unique($wedTrackTimes);
**$wedTrackTimes = sort($wedTrackTimes);**
print_r($wedTrackTimes);

Don't assign variable to sort function, Basically what you are doing is assigning sort's value (which will be true or false) into wedTrackTimes, Instead of this use

$wedTrackTimes = array("9:30 AM-10:30 AM", "8:15 AM-9:15 AM", "12:30 PM-1:30 PM", "2:00 PM-3:00 PM", "3:30 PM-4:30 PM");
    $wedTrackTimes = array_unique($wedTrackTimes);
    **sort($wedTrackTimes);**
    print_r($wedTrackTimes);

answered Jun 13, 2017 at 11:09

Abhinav bhardwaj

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Comments

mickmackusa · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-03 14:57:27Z

Sensibly sorting on time (chronologically) will call for strtotime().

Here is a one-liner for you using array_multisort(). array_map() and strtotime() are called to generate an array to be used purely for the sorting order.

array_multisort(array_map(function($v){return strtotime(strstr($v,'-',true));},$wedTrackTimes),$wedTrackTimes);

For anyone that is lost in that syntax, here is the same functionality on more lines.

Code: (Demo)

$wedTrackTimes=[
    "9:30 AM-10:30 AM",
    "8:15 AM-9:15 AM",
    "12:30 PM-1:30 PM",
    "2:00 PM-3:00 PM",
    "3:30 PM-4:30 PM"
];

foreach($wedTrackTimes as $time){  // iterate the time strings
    $timestamps[]=strtotime(strstr($time,'-',true));  // store the first time of the time range as a unix timestamp
}
array_multisort($timestamps,$wedTrackTimes);  // use $timestamps to sort $wedTrackTimes

var_export($wedTrackTimes);

Output:

array (
  0 => '8:15 AM-9:15 AM',
  1 => '9:30 AM-10:30 AM',
  2 => '12:30 PM-1:30 PM',
  3 => '2:00 PM-3:00 PM',
  4 => '3:30 PM-4:30 PM',
)

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