Sort the values of an Object array alphabetically in php and arrange them into sections of alphabets according to the first letter of their name.

/* Code to sort the data elements in alphabetic order .

The following snippet will sort the array alphabetically in ascending order, starting from 'a' to 'z' .  */

<?php

function compareByName($a, $b) {
  return strcmp($a->name, $b->name);
}
usort($cityPages->data, 'compareByName');   // $cityPages->data are the array which we want to sort.

?>

/* Code to arrange the sorted data elements into their respective sections with the first letter of their names.

*/

<?php 

$previousalphabet = null;  // initialize the alphabets for to compare with next alphabets for the start.

$initial_counter  = 1;

foreach($cityPages->data as $value) {

  $firstalphabet = substr($value->name, 0, 1);      // extract the first alphabet of the word.

  if($previousalphabet !== $firstalphabet) {        // compare the first alphabet with  the previous alphabet.

    if($initial_counter!=1){ echo '</ul></li>'; } ?>  // if its not the first case then print the result in list tag.

    <li class="<?php echo strtolower($firstalphabet); ?> item masonry-brick">

    <h3><?php echo $firstalphabet; ?></h3>         // print the first alphabet whose section is going to start like A,B,C,D etc.

    <?php echo '<ul>';          //start the <ul> to print the results under above alphabet section.
  }

  $previousalphabet = $firstalphabet;       // replace the previous alphabet with the current one.
 
  echo '<li>'echo $value->name;        // print the value inside <li> under the individual alphabet.

  $initial_counter++;    // increase the counter 
}

?>

The output of the above code will be like : 

Output format : 

A                  B                 C                   D
atlanta        Bosten        China            Denmark
anapolis      Berlin          Charlotte      Detroit
arkon