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</div><hr /><div id="function.max" class="refentry">
<div class="refnamediv">
<h1 class="refname">max</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">max</span> — <span class="dc-title">Find highest value</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.max-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <span class="methodname"><strong>max</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">array</span> <code class="parameter">$values</code></span>
)</div>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <span class="methodname"><strong>max</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <code class="parameter">$value1</code></span>
, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <code class="parameter">$value2</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <code class="parameter">$...</code></span>
] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
If the first and only parameter is an array, <span class="function"><strong>max()</strong></span>
returns the highest value in that array. If at least two parameters are
provided, <span class="function"><strong>max()</strong></span> returns the biggest of these values.
</p>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
PHP will evaluate a non-numeric <span class="type"><a href="language.types.string.html" class="type string">string</a></span> as
<em>0</em> if compared to <span class="type"><a href="language.types.integer.html" class="type integer">integer</a></span>, but still return the string if it's seen as the
numerically highest value. If multiple arguments evaluate to
<em>0</em>, <span class="function"><strong>max()</strong></span> will return a numeric
<em>0</em> if given, else the alphabetical highest string
value will be returned.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.max-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">values</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
An array containing the values.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">value1</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
Any <a href="language.operators.comparison.html" class="link">comparable</a>
value.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">value2</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
Any <a href="language.operators.comparison.html" class="link">comparable</a>
value.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">...</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
Any <a href="language.operators.comparison.html" class="link">comparable</a>
value.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.max-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
<span class="function"><strong>max()</strong></span> returns the numerically highest of the
parameter values. If multiple values can be considered of the same size,
the one that is listed first will be returned.
</p>
<p class="para">
When <span class="function"><strong>max()</strong></span> is given multiple <span class="type"><a href="language.types.array.html" class="type array">array</a></span>s, the
longest array is returned. If all the arrays have the same length,
<span class="function"><strong>max()</strong></span> will use lexicographic ordering to find the return
value.
</p>
<p class="para">
When given a <span class="type"><a href="language.types.string.html" class="type string">string</a></span> it will be cast as an <span class="type"><a href="language.types.integer.html" class="type integer">integer</a></span>
when comparing.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.max-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-3463">
<p><strong>Example #1 Example uses of <span class="function"><strong>max()</strong></span></strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">max</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">3</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">5</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">6</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">7</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// 7<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">max</span><span style="color: #007700">(array(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">2</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">4</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">5</span><span style="color: #007700">)); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// 5<br /><br />// When 'hello' is cast as integer it will be 0. Both the parameters are equally<br />// long, so the order they are given in determines the result<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">max</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'hello'</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// 0<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">max</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'hello'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// hello<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">max</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'42'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">3</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// '42'<br /><br />// Here 0 > -1, so 'hello' is the return value.<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">max</span><span style="color: #007700">(-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'hello'</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// hello<br /><br />// With multiple arrays of different lengths, max returns the longest<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$val </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">max</span><span style="color: #007700">(array(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">2</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">2</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">2</span><span style="color: #007700">), array(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">)); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// array(1, 1, 1, 1)<br /><br />// With multiple arrays of the same length, max compares from left to right<br />// using lexicographic order, so in our example: 2 == 2, but 4 < 5<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$val </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">max</span><span style="color: #007700">(array(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">2</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">4</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">8</span><span style="color: #007700">), array(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">2</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">5</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">7</span><span style="color: #007700">)); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// array(2, 5, 7)<br /><br />// If both an array and non-array are given, the array<br />// is always returned as it's seen as the largest<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$val </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">max</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'string'</span><span style="color: #007700">, array(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">2</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">5</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">7</span><span style="color: #007700">), </span><span style="color: #0000BB">42</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// array(2, 5, 7)<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.max-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.min.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">min()</a> - Find lowest value</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.count.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">count()</a> - Count all elements in an array, or something in an object</span></li>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
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