(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)
max — Find highest value
If the first and only parameter is an array, max() returns the highest value in that array. If at least two parameters are provided, max() returns the biggest of these values.
Note:
Values of different types will be compared using the standard comparison rules. For instance, a non-numeric string will be compared to an integer as though it were 0, but multiple string values will be compared alphanumerically. The actual value returned will be of the original type with no conversion applied.
valuesAn array containing the values.
value1Any comparable value.
value2Any comparable value.
...Any comparable value.
max() returns the parameter value considered "highest" according to standard comparisons. If multiple values of different types evaluate as equal (e.g. 0 and 'abc') the first provided to the function will be returned.
If an empty array is passed, then FALSE will be returned and an
E_WARNING error will be emitted.
Example #1 Example uses of max()
<?php
echo max(2, 3, 1, 6, 7); // 7
echo max(array(2, 4, 5)); // 5
// The string 'hello' when compared to an int is treated as 0
// Since the two values are equal, the order they are provided determines the result
echo max(0, 'hello'); // 0
echo max('hello', 0); // hello
// Here we are comparing -1 < 0, so 'hello' is the highest value
echo max('hello', -1); // hello
// With multiple arrays of different lengths, max returns the longest
$val = max(array(2, 2, 2), array(1, 1, 1, 1)); // array(1, 1, 1, 1)
// Multiple arrays of the same length are compared from left to right
// so in our example: 2 == 2, but 5 > 4
$val = max(array(2, 4, 8), array(2, 5, 1)); // array(2, 5, 1)
// If both an array and non-array are given, the array will be returned
// as comparisons treat arrays as greater than any other value
$val = max('string', array(2, 5, 7), 42); // array(2, 5, 7)
// If one argument is NULL or a boolean, it will be compared against
// other values using the rule FALSE < TRUE regardless of the other types involved
// In the below example, -10 is treated as TRUE in the comparison
$val = max(-10, FALSE); // -10
// 0, on the other hand, is treated as FALSE, so is "lower than" TRUE
$val = max(0, TRUE); // TRUE
?>
Notice that whenever there is a Number in front of the String, it will be used for Comparison.
<?php
max('7iuwmssuxue', 1); //returns 7iuwmssuxu
max('-7suidha', -4); //returns -4
?>
But just if it is in front of the String
<?php
max('sdihatewin7wduiw', 3); //returns 3
?>
Sometimes you could need to get the max from an array which looks like this:
<?php
$arrTest = array(
array( "day" => 1, "b" => 10 ),
array( "day" => 2, "b" => 43 ),
array( "day" => 3, "b" => 2 ),
array( "day" => 4, "b" => -3 ),
array( "day" => 5, "b" => 4 ),
array( "day" => 6, "b" => -5 )
);
?>
all max functions i see around don't provide a way to get the max value of the values in (example) key "b"
<?php
function maxValueInArray($array, $keyToSearch)
{
$currentMax = NULL;
foreach($array as $arr)
{
foreach($arr as $key => $value)
{
if ($key == $keyToSearch && ($value >= $currentMax))
{
$currentMax = $value;
}
}
}
return $currentMax;
}
// array key
$value = maxValueInArray($arrTest, "b");
?>
output: 43
A way to bound a integer between two values is:
<?php
function bound($x, $min, $max)
{
return min(max($x, $min), $max);
}
?>
which is the same as:
<?php
$tmp = $x;
if($tmp < $min)
{
$tmp = $min;
}
if($tmp > $max)
{
$tmp = $max;
}
$y = $tmp;
?>
So if you wanted to bound an integer between 1 and 12 for example:
Input:
<?php
$x = 0;
echo bound(0, 1, 12).'<br />';
$x = 1;
echo bound($x, 1, 12).'<br />';
$x = 6;
echo bound($x, 1, 12).'<br />';
$x = 12;
echo bound($x, 1, 12).'<br />';
$x = 13;
echo bound($x, 1, 12).'<br />';
?>
Output:
1
1
6
12
12
max() (and min()) on DateTime objects compares them like dates (with timezone info) and returns DateTime object.
<?php
$dt1 = new DateTime('2014-05-07 18:53', new DateTimeZone('Europe/Kiev'));
$dt2 = new DateTime('2014-05-07 16:53', new DateTimeZone('UTC'));
echo max($dt1,$dt2)->format(DateTime::RFC3339) . PHP_EOL; // 2014-05-07T16:53:00+00:00
echo min($dt1,$dt2)->format(DateTime::RFC3339) . PHP_EOL; // 2014-05-07T18:53:00+03:00
?>
It works at least 5.3.3-7+squeeze17
Note that max() can compare dates, so if you write something like this:
<?php
$dates = array('2009-02-15', '2009-03-15');
echo max($dates);
?>
you will get: 2009-03-15.
To get the largest key in an array:
<?php
$array = array( 0 => 'first', 1=> 'second', /* ... */ 99 => 'nth' );
$max_key = max( array_keys( $array ) ); // 99
?>
Matlab users and others may feel lonely without the double argument output from min and max functions.
To have the INDEX of the highest value in an array, as well as the value itself, use the following, or a derivative:
<?php
function doublemax($mylist){
$maxvalue=max($mylist);
while(list($key,$value)=each($mylist)){
if($value==$maxvalue)$maxindex=$key;
}
return array("m"=>$maxvalue,"i"=>$maxindex);
}
?>
I had several occasions that using max is a lot slower then using a if/then/else construct. Be sure to check this in your routines!
Ries
Regarding boolean parameters in min() and max():
(a) If any of your parameters is boolean, max and min will cast the rest of them to boolean to do the comparison.
(b) true > false
(c) However, max and min will return the actual parameter value that wins the comparison (not the cast).
Here's some test cases to illustrate:
1. max(true,100)=true
2. max(true,0)=true
3. max(100,true)=100
4. max(false,100)=100
5. max(100,false)=100
6. min(true,100)=true
7. min(true,0)=0
8. min(100,true)=100
9. min(false,100)=false
10. min(100,false)=false
11. min(true,false)=false
12. max(true,false)=true
A little function for multi-dimensional arrays:
<?php
function amax($array){
if(is_array($array)){
foreach($array as $key => $value){
$array[$key] = amax($value);
}
return max($array);
}else{
return $array;
}
}
?>
<?php
/**
* @param array $array
*
* @return int|null Returns the largest value of the array. Returns NULL if no
* integers are found.
*/
function array_max_recursive(array $array) {
$max = NULL;
$stack = array($array);
do {
$current = array_pop($stack );
foreach ($current as $value) {
if (is_array($value)) {
$stack[] = $value;
} elseif (filter_var($value, FILTER_VALIDATE_INT) !== FALSE) {
// max(NULL, 0) returns NULL, so cast it
$max = (int) max($max, $value);
}
}
} while (!empty($stack));
return $max;
}
?>
- This function is not actually recursive, but fulfills the requirement that it works on sub-arrays. I do this because PHP is not very good at recursion. I also did it because I enjoy doing things this way.
- It returns something of type int, never a string representation of an int. The exception is when you provide an array that does not contain any integers. It will then return NULL.
- It ignores non-array, non-int values.
This code loops through seven arrays and finds the highest average value within those arrays - and changes the font color for it. Great for highlighting.
The biggest take-away is this the row
if($average[$i] == max($average))
The number_format just rounds the numbers to 0 decimal points.
<?php
for ( $i = 0; $i <= 6; $i++) {
$num = $i+1;
if($average[$i] == max($average)) {
echo "Value ".$num.": <font color='red'>".number_format($average[$i], 0, '.', '')." % </font<br>";
} else {
echo "Value ".$num.": ".number_format($average[$i],0,'.','')." %<br>";
}
}
?>
### OUTPUT
Value 1: 52 %
Value 2: 58 %
Value 3: 56 %
Value 4: 73 %
Value 5: 77 % <- this 77 is highlighted in red
Value 6: 71 %
Value 7: 75 %
Note that max() throws a warning if the array is empty:
<?php
$a = array();
max($a);
// Warning: max(): Array must contain at least one element
?>
So make sure your data isn't empty.
If you want to test whether x lies within two bounds:
<?php
static function isInRange($x, $y1, $y2) {
return( ($x >= min($y1, $y2)) && ($x <= max($y1, $y2)) );
}
//called by:
class::isInRange(10,12,2);
//or
$this->isInRange(10,12,2);
//or (drop static)
isInRange(10,12,2);
//simple test function:
static function unit_isInRange() {
$output = array();
$inputlist[] = array(10, 12, 2, true);
$inputlist[] = array(13, 12, 2, false);
$inputlist[] = array(2, -2, 2, true);
$inputlist[] = array(2, -8, -2, false);
foreach($inputlist as $input) {
$output[] = array(
'input' => array($input[0], $input[1], $input[2]),
'output' => self::isInRange($input[0],$input[1],$input[2]),
'expected' => $input[3],
);
}
return($output);
}
?>
max only accepts not empty arrays.
if you work a lot with numerical arrays and with max, this function may come in handy:
<?php
if (!function_exists('emax')) {
function emax($arr) {
if (!is_array($arr)) return call_user_func_array('max', func_get_args());
if (count($arr) == 0) return 0;
return max($arr);
}
}
?>
To find the maximum value from a set of 1-dimensional arrays, do this:
<?php
$d1 = array(450,420,440,430,421);
$d2 = array(460,410,410,430,413,375,256,411,656);
$d3 = array(430,440,470,435,434,255,198);
$t = max(max($d1),max($d2),max($d3));
// $t is 656
?>
The inner max() functions operate on the arrays, the outer max compares the numeric results of the inner ones.
max on a an array with key/values
<?php
$tmp = array(1 => 5, 2=> 3);
echo max($tmp);
?>
this return 5, so the max is done on the values.
