(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
min — Find lowest value
Alternative signature (not supported with named arguments):
If the first and only parameter is an array, min() returns the lowest value in that array. If at least two parameters are provided, min() returns the smallest 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 int as though it were
0, but multiple non-numeric string values will be compared alphanumerically. The actual value returned will be of the original type with no conversion applied.
Be careful when passing arguments of different types because min() can produce unpredictable results.
valueAny comparable value.
valuesAny comparable values.
value_arrayAn array containing the values.
min() returns the parameter value considered "lowest" 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, min() throws a ValueError.
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 8.0.0 | min() throws a ValueError on failure now; previously, false was returned and an E_WARNING error was emitted. |
| 8.0.0 | As string to number comparisons were changed, min() no longer returns a different value based on the argument order in those cases. |
Example #1 Example uses of min()
<?php
echo min(2, 3, 1, 6, 7); // 1
echo min(array(2, 4, 5)); // 2
// Here we are comparing -1 < 0, so -1 is the lowest value
echo min('hello', -1); // -1
// With multiple arrays of different lengths, min returns the shortest
$val = min(array(2, 2, 2), array(1, 1, 1, 1)); // array(2, 2, 2)
// Multiple arrays of the same length are compared from left to right
// so in our example: 2 == 2, but 4 < 5
$val = min(array(2, 4, 8), array(2, 5, 1)); // array(2, 4, 8)
// If both an array and non-array are given, the array is never returned
// as comparisons treat arrays as greater than any other value
$val = min('string', array(2, 5, 7), 42); // string
// If one argument is NULL or a boolean, it will be compared against
// other values using the rules FALSE < TRUE and NULL == FALSE regardless of the
// other types involved
// In the below examples, both -10 and 10 are treated as TRUE in the comparison
$val = min(-10, FALSE, 10); // FALSE
$val = min(-10, NULL, 10); // NULL
// 0, on the other hand, is treated as FALSE, so is "lower than" TRUE
$val = min(0, TRUE); // 0
?>