PHP Program to Sort an Array Elements in Descending Order

Given an array containing some elements, the task is to sort the array elements in descending order in PHP. Sorting elements of an array is a common operation in programming, and PHP provides several methods to accomplish this task.

Using rsort() Function

The rsort() function is a built-in PHP function specifically designed for sorting an array in descending order.

PHP

<?php

$arr = [5, 2, 8, 1, 3];

// Sort the array in descending order
rsort($arr);

// Display descending order sorted array
print_r($arr);

?>

Output

Array
(
    [0] => 8
    [1] => 5
    [2] => 3
    [3] => 2
    [4] => 1
)

Using array_reverse() with sort() Functions

Another approach is to use the combination of array_reverse() and sort() functions to achieve the descending order sorting.

PHP

<?php

$arr = [5, 2, 8, 1, 3];

// Sort the array in ascending order
sort($arr);

// Reverse the array to get
//descending order
$arr = array_reverse($arr);

// Display the sorted array
// (Descending order)
print_r($arr);

?>

Output

Array
(
    [0] => 8
    [1] => 5
    [2] => 3
    [3] => 2
    [4] => 1
)

Using usort() with Custom Comparison Function

The usort() function allows you to sort an array using a custom comparison function, providing more flexibility in sorting criteria.

PHP

<?php

$arr = [5, 2, 8, 1, 3];

// Sort the array in descending order
usort($arr, function ($a, $b) {
    return $b - $a;
});

// Display the sorted array
// (descending order)
print_r($arr);

?>

Output

Array
(
    [0] => 8
    [1] => 5
    [2] => 3
    [3] => 2
    [4] => 1
)