What are the best practices for comparing and sorting data in PHP without relying on database queries?

When comparing and sorting data in PHP without relying on database queries, it is important to utilize built-in functions such as array_multisort() for sorting arrays and array_diff() for comparing arrays. Additionally, using custom comparison functions can provide more flexibility when sorting complex data structures.

// Example of sorting an array of associative arrays by a specific key
$data = [
    ['name' => 'John', 'age' => 30],
    ['name' => 'Jane', 'age' => 25],
    ['name' => 'Alice', 'age' => 35]
];

// Sort the data array by the 'age' key in ascending order
array_multisort(array_column($data, 'age'), SORT_ASC, $data);

// Output the sorted data
print_r($data);