Online PHP editor | output for t62Gm

<?php $orderList = [ 'Jake', 'Scully' => [ 'pet', 'friend' => [ 'Michael', 'Merissa', ], 'Norm', ], 'Amy', 'Charles', 'Hitchcock', ]; $items = [ [ 'name' => 'Scully', ], [ 'name' => 'Rosa', ], [ 'name' => 'Bill', ], [ 'name' => 'Jake', ], [ 'name' => 'Hitchcock', ], [ 'name' => 'Amy', ], ]; function getTopLevelItemsFromMixedList(array $mixedList): array { $topLevels = []; foreach ($mixedList as $item => $value) { $topLevels[] = is_int($item) ? $value : $item; } return $topLevels; } function getComparator(array $order): callable { return function ($a, $b) use ($order) { $indexOfA = array_search($a['name'], $order); $indexOfB = array_search($b['name'], $order); // If both are in the $order list, compare them based on their position in the list if ($indexOfA !== false && $indexOfB !== false) { return $indexOfA <=> $indexOfB; } // If only A is in the $order list, then it must come before B. if ($indexOfA !== false) { return -1; } // If only B is in the $order list, then it must come before A. if ($indexOfB !== false) { return 1; } // If neither is present, fall back to natural sort return strnatcmp($a['name'], $b['name']); }; } $topLevelOrder = getTopLevelItemsFromMixedList($orderList); usort($items, getComparator($topLevelOrder)); print_r($items);