Online PHP editor | refs for ctjlD

<?php $rows = [ ['name' => 'blah', 'path' => 'A'], ['name' => 'blah1', 'path' => 'AA'], ['name' => 'blah', 'path' => 'AB'], ['name' => 'blah', 'path' => 'C'], ['name' => 'blah', 'path' => 'D'], ['name' => 'blah2', 'path' => 'AA'], ['name' => 'blah', 'path' => 'B'], ['name' => 'blah', 'path' => 'BA'], ['name' => 'blah', 'path' => 'BAA'], ['name' => 'blah', 'path' => 'CA'], ]; $copy = $rows; uasort($rows, fn($a, $b) => $b['path'] <=> $a['path']); foreach ($rows as $i => $row1) { foreach ($rows as $j => &$row2) { if (substr($row1['path'], 0, -1) === $row2['path']) { $copy[$j]['children'][] = $row1; unset($copy[$i]); } } } var_export($copy);