Calculate dense rank from highest to lowest number

I have an array of players each with a number of points.

I can easily sort the array in order of the points using a custom usort function.

But when two players have the same amount of points I need to rank them as the same winning position within the list.

E.g.

• Nick - 25
• Tom - 18
• Chris - 18
• Dave - 16
• James - 8

In this case the data that I require would be

• Nick - 1st
• Tom - (joint) 2nd
• Chris - (joint) 2nd
• Dave 3rd
• James 4th

So players with equal scores are designated the same ranking position.

What is the best way of calculating these positions?

This will give you what you want with an additional fix: if you have two players in position 2 the next player should be in position 4. If you don't want this additional fix move $count++; into the if statement.

$count = 0;
$position = 0;
$last_score = -1;

foreach ($players as $player)
{
    $count++;

    if ($last_score !== $player->score)
    {
        $position = $count;
    }

    $player->position = $position;
    $last_score = $player->score;
}