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# dbx_compare

(PHP 4 >= 4.1.0, PHP 5 <= 5.0.4)

dbx_compare -- Compare two rows for sorting purposes

## Description

int dbx_compare ( array row_a, array row_b, string column_key [, int flags] )

dbx_compare() returns 0 if the row_a[$column_key] is equal to row_b[$column_key], and 1 or -1 if the former is greater or is smaller than the latter one, respectively, or vice versa if the flag is set to `DBX_CMP_DESC`. dbx_compare() is a helper function for dbx_sort() to ease the make and use of the custom sorting function.

The flags can be set to specify comparison direction:

- `DBX_CMP_ASC` - ascending order

- `DBX_CMP_DESC` - descending order

and the preferred comparison type:

- `DBX_CMP_NATIVE` - no type conversion

- `DBX_CMP_TEXT` - compare items as strings

- `DBX_CMP_NUMBER` - compare items numerically

One of the direction and one of the type constant can be combined with bitwise OR operator (|). The default value for the flags parameter is `DBX_CMP_ASC` | `DBX_CMP_NATIVE`.

Example 1. dbx_compare() example
`<?php function user_re_order($a, $b) { $rv = dbx_compare($a, $b, "parentid", DBX_CMP_DESC); if (!$rv) { $rv = dbx_compare($a, $b, "id", DBX_CMP_NUMBER); } return $rv; } $link = dbx_connect(DBX_ODBC, "", "db", "username", "password") or die("Could not connect"); $result = dbx_query($link, "SELECT id, parentid, description FROM table ORDER BY id"); // data in $result is now ordered by id dbx_sort($result, "user_re_order"); // date in $result is now ordered by parentid (descending), then by id dbx_close($link); ?>`

See also dbx_sort().

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