Examples:
If you compare a number with a string or the comparison involves numerical strings, then each string is converted to a number and the comparison performed numerically. These rules also apply to the switch statement. The type conversion does not take place when the comparison is === or !== as this involves comparing the type as well as the value.
<?php var_dump(0 == "a"); // 0 == 0 -> true var_dump("1" == "01"); // 1 == 1 -> true var_dump("10" == "1e1"); // 10 == 10 -> true var_dump(100 == "1e2"); // 100 == 100 -> true switch ("a") { case 0: echo "0"; break; case "a": // never reached because "a" is already matched with 0 echo "a"; break; } ?>
<?php // Integers echo 1 <=> 1; // 0 echo 1 <=> 2; // -1 echo 2 <=> 1; // 1 // Floats echo 1.5 <=> 1.5; // 0 echo 1.5 <=> 2.5; // -1 echo 2.5 <=> 1.5; // 1 // Strings echo "a" <=> "a"; // 0 echo "a" <=> "b"; // -1 echo "b" <=> "a"; // 1 echo "a" <=> "aa"; // -1 echo "zz" <=> "aa"; // 1 // Arrays echo [] <=> []; // 0 echo [1, 2, 3] <=> [1, 2, 3]; // 0 echo [1, 2, 3] <=> []; // 1 echo [1, 2, 3] <=> [1, 2, 1]; // 1 echo [1, 2, 3] <=> [1, 2, 4]; // -1 // Objects $a = (object) ["a" => "b"]; $b = (object) ["a" => "b"]; echo $a <=> $b; // 0 $a = (object) ["a" => "b"]; $b = (object) ["a" => "c"]; echo $a <=> $b; // -1 $a = (object) ["a" => "c"]; $b = (object) ["a" => "b"]; echo $a <=> $b; // 1 // only values are compared $a = (object) ["a" => "b"]; $b = (object) ["b" => "b"]; echo $a <=> $b; // 1 ?>
Boolean/null comparison
<?php // Bool and null are compared as bool always var_dump(1 == TRUE); // TRUE - same as (bool)1 == TRUE var_dump(0 == FALSE); // TRUE - same as (bool)0 == FALSE var_dump(100 < TRUE); // FALSE - same as (bool)100 < TRUE var_dump(-10 < FALSE);// FALSE - same as (bool)-10 < FALSE var_dump(min(-100, -10, NULL, 10, 100)); // NULL - (bool)NULL < (bool)-100 is FALSE < TRUE ?>
Transcription of standard array comparison
<?php // Arrays are compared like this with standard comparison operators function standard_array_compare($op1, $op2) { if (count($op1) < count($op2)) { return -1; // $op1 < $op2 } elseif (count($op1) > count($op2)) { return 1; // $op1 > $op2 } foreach ($op1 as $key => $val) { if (!array_key_exists($key, $op2)) { return null; // uncomparable } elseif ($val < $op2[$key]) { return -1; } elseif ($val > $op2[$key]) { return 1; } } return 0; // $op1 == $op2 } ?>
Assigning a default value
Another conditional operator is the "?:" (or ternary) operator.
<?php // Example usage for: Ternary Operator $action = (empty($_POST['action'])) ? 'default' : $_POST['action']; // The above is identical to this if/else statement if (empty($_POST['action'])) { $action = 'default'; } else { $action = $_POST['action']; } ?>
Non-obvious Ternary Behaviour
It is recommended that you avoid "stacking" ternary expressions. PHP's behaviour when using more than one ternary operator within a single statement is non-obvious:
<?php // on first glance, the following appears to output 'true' echo (true?'true':false?'t':'f'); // however, the actual output of the above is 't' // this is because ternary expressions are evaluated from left to right // the following is a more obvious version of the same code as above echo ((true ? 'true' : false) ? 't' : 'f'); // here, you can see that the first expression is evaluated to 'true', which // in turn evaluates to (bool)true, thus returning the true branch of the // second ternary expression. ?>
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