Title: sort_menu
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# sort_menu( array $a, array $b ): int

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sort_menu/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sort_menu/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sort_menu/?output_format=md#source)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sort_menu/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sort_menu/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$a`arrayrequired

`$b`arrayrequired

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sort_menu/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 int

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sort_menu/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    function sort_menu( $a, $b ) {
    	global $menu_order, $default_menu_order;

    	$a = $a[2];
    	$b = $b[2];

    	if ( isset( $menu_order[ $a ] ) && ! isset( $menu_order[ $b ] ) ) {
    		return -1;
    	} elseif ( ! isset( $menu_order[ $a ] ) && isset( $menu_order[ $b ] ) ) {
    		return 1;
    	} elseif ( isset( $menu_order[ $a ] ) && isset( $menu_order[ $b ] ) ) {
    		if ( $menu_order[ $a ] === $menu_order[ $b ] ) {
    			return 0;
    		}
    		return ( $menu_order[ $a ] < $menu_order[ $b ] ) ? -1 : 1;
    	} else {
    		return ( $default_menu_order[ $a ] <= $default_menu_order[ $b ] ) ? -1 : 1;
    	}
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-admin/includes/menu.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/menu.php#L319)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/menu.php#L319-L337)

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