strnatcmp
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
strnatcmp — String comparisons using a "natural order" algorithm
Description
int strnatcmp
( string $str1
, string $str2
)
This function implements a comparison algorithm that orders alphanumeric strings in the way a human being would, this is described as a "natural ordering". Note that this comparison is case sensitive.
Parameters
- str1
-
The first string.
- str2
-
The second string.
Return Values
Similar to other string comparison functions, this one returns < 0 if str1 is less than str2; > 0 if str1 is greater than str2, and 0 if they are equal.
Examples
An example of the difference between this algorithm and the regular computer string sorting algorithms (used in strcmp()) can be seen below:
<?php
$arr1 = $arr2 = array("img12.png", "img10.png", "img2.png", "img1.png");
echo "Standard string comparison\n";
usort($arr1, "strcmp");
print_r($arr1);
echo "\nNatural order string comparison\n";
usort($arr2, "strnatcmp");
print_r($arr2);
?>
The above example will output:
Standard string comparison
Array
(
[0] => img1.png
[1] => img10.png
[2] => img12.png
[3] => img2.png
)
Natural order string comparison
Array
(
[0] => img1.png
[1] => img2.png
[2] => img10.png
[3] => img12.png
)
See Also
- preg_match() - Perform a regular expression match
- strcasecmp() - Binary safe case-insensitive string comparison
- substr() - Return part of a string
- stristr() - Case-insensitive strstr
- strcmp() - Binary safe string comparison
- strncmp() - Binary safe string comparison of the first n characters
- strncasecmp() - Binary safe case-insensitive string comparison of the first n characters
- strnatcasecmp() - Case insensitive string comparisons using a "natural order" algorithm
- strstr() - Find first occurrence of a string
- natsort() - Sort an array using a "natural order" algorithm
- natcasesort() - Sort an array using a case insensitive "natural order" algorithm