Sorting an array by letters then numbers not working

Question

/ Begin Updates /

The below solutions will work if I target a single array of arrays but not the array of arrays of arrays.

This is only a chunk of the associative array, each grouped piece will need to be sorted. See updated array.

I've tried the following and it doesn't hit the subarray it seems:

function natorder($a, $b){
  return strnatcmp( $a['name'], $b['name'] );
}
usort($array, 'natorder');

/ End of Updates /

Trying variations usort, sort and the following function:

function sortNames($a, $b){
 return $a['name'] - $b['name'];
}

I am unable to sort my array:

    [abc-abc] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [name] => abc-abc-34
                    [qty] => 4
                    [sub_qty] => 4
                    [area] => G11
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [name] => abc-abc-45
                    [qty] => 145
                    [sub_qty] => 146
                    [area] => G11
                )

            [2] => Array
                (
                    [name] => abc-abc-67
                    [qty] => 215
                    [sub_qty] => 100, 
116
                    [area] => T, 
G12
                )

            [3] => Array
                (
                    [name] => abc-abc-56
                    [qty] => 0
                )

        )
    [def-def] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [name] => def-def-34
                    [qty] => 4
                    [sub_qty] => 4
                    [area] => G11
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [name] => def-def-45
                    [qty] => 145
                    [sub_qty] => 146
                    [area] => G11
                )

            [2] => Array
                (
                    [name] => def-def-56
                    [qty] => 0
                )

        )

To the following:

        [abc-abc] => Array
            (
                [0] => Array
                    (
                        [name] => abc-abc-34
                        [qty] => 4
                        [sub_qty] => 4
                        [area] => G11
                    )

                [1] => Array
                    (
                        [name] => abc-abc-45
                        [qty] => 145
                        [sub_qty] => 146
                        [area] => G11
                    )

                [2] => Array
    (
                        [name] => abc-abc-56
                        [qty] => 0
                    )


                [3] => Array
                    (
                        [name] => abc-abc-67
                        [qty] => 215
                        [sub_qty] => 100, 
    116
                        [area] => T, 
    G12
                    )

            )
[def-def] => Array
            (
                [0] => Array
                    (
                        [name] => def-def-34
                        [qty] => 4
                        [sub_qty] => 4
                        [area] => G11
                    )

                [1] => Array
                    (
                        [name] => def-def-45
                        [qty] => 145
                        [sub_qty] => 146
                        [area] => G11
                    )

                [2] => Array
                    (
                        [name] => def-def-56
                        [qty] => 0
                    )

            )

Do I need to account for the additional keys not present in abc-abc-56? Is there an alternate tool or function I should be using?

The name will always have the format of 3 letters, a dash, followed by 3 letters but after that it varies with other characters and numbers. So it could be:

abc-abc-1, abc-abc1, abc-abc.1, or abc-abc_1

but I'm most concerned with the first pattern being sorted correctly.

Your review is much appreciated!

Answer 1

If you have a multi dimensional array, you could use array_map and use usort in the callback function.

In the callback of usort use strnatcmp.

For example:

$array = array_map(function($x){
    usort($x, function($a, $b){
        return strnatcmp($a['name'], $b['name']);
    });
    return $x;
}, $array);

Demo

For the single array with multiple names you could use:

function sortNames($a, $b)
{
    return strnatcmp($a['name'], $b['name']);
}

usort($array, "sortNames");
print_r($array);

Demo