How do I sort a Laravel Collection by multiple properties with both asc and desc?

Question

If I have an Illuminate\Support\Collection, how do I sort by multiple properties with both asc and desc? (This is a simple hypothetical - not at all looking for tips on query building.)

$collection = User::all(); // not looking for User::orderBy()->get() solutions.  Read the question.
$sorting_insructions = [
    ['column'=>'first_name', 'order'=>'asc'],
    ['column'=>'date_of_birth', 'order'=>'desc'],
];
$collection->sort(function($a,$b) use ($sorting_instructions){
    // something...
});

Answer 1

Whoever uses this, just keep in mind - you'll need to tweak it depending if your using collection of objects or associative arrays. Should be an easy tweak. Just change the $a[]/$b[] stuff to $a-> and $b->

    public static function multiPropertySort(Collection $collection, array $sorting_instructions){

        return $collection->sort(function ($a, $b) use ($sorting_instructions){

            //stuff starts here to answer question...

            foreach($sorting_instructions as $sorting_instruction){

                $a[$sorting_instruction['column']] = (isset($a[$sorting_instruction['column']])) ? $a[$sorting_instruction['column']] : '';
                $b[$sorting_instruction['column']] = (isset($b[$sorting_instruction['column']])) ? $b[$sorting_instruction['column']] : '';

                if(empty($sorting_instruction['order']) or strtolower($sorting_instruction['order']) == 'asc'){
                    $x = ($a[$sorting_instruction['column']] <=> $b[$sorting_instruction['column']]);
                }else{
                    $x = ($b[$sorting_instruction['column']] <=> $a[$sorting_instruction['column']]);

                }

                if($x != 0){
                    return $x;
                }

            }

            return 0;

        })->values();
    }