Sort Array not working

I'm having trouble sorting an array. When I do, it empties the array for some reason. Take the following code: $data = "bird,dog,cat,dog,,horse,bird,bird,bird,lizard"; $array = explode(",",$data); // Create the array $array = array_diff($array, array("")); // Drop the empty elements $array = array_unique($array); // Drop the duplicate elements $array = array_merge($array); // Reset the array keys print_r ($array); Up to here it works great. The resulting output is: Array ( [0] => bird [1] => dog [2] => cat [3] => horse [4] => lizard ) Then if I do this: $array = sort($array); // Sorts the array print_r ($array); The output is "1". I've tried asort, rsort in the place of sort and get the same results. I've also tried putting the sort in between the first 4 steps and that doesn't work either. Obviously I'm doing something wrong here. I'm using PHP 4.3.4. Any suggestions? -- Kevin Murphy Webmaster: Information and Marketing Services Western Nevada Community College www.wncc.edu 775-445-3326