max()

max() — Find highest value.

Built-in function of PHP 8.5. The manual lists it as available in PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8. This page is the reference card: signature, parameters and return value, plus the changelog and the example the manual provides.

What it does

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.

Signature

max(mixed $value, mixed ...$values): mixed max(array $value_array): mixed

Parameters

Return 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 false) the first provided to the function will be returned.

Example

A runnable snippet:

echo max(2, 3, 1, 6, 7), PHP_EOL; // 7 echo max(array(2, 4, 5)), PHP_EOL; // 5 // 'hello' is a non-numeric string, so -1 is cast to the string "-1" and the // values are compared as strings: "hello" is greater than "-1" echo max('hello', -1), PHP_EOL; // hello // With multiple arrays of different lengths, max returns the longest $val = max(array(2, 2, 2), array(1, 1, 1, 1)); // array(1, 1, 1, 1) var_dump($val); // Multiple arrays of the same length are compared from left to right // so in our example: 2 == 2, but 5 > 4 $val = max(array(2, 4, 8), array(2, 5, 1)); // array(2, 5, 1) var_dump($val); // If both an array and non-array are given, the array will be returned // as comparisons treat arrays as greater than any other value $val = max('string', array(2, 5, 7), 42); // array(2, 5, 7) var_dump($val); // 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 $val = max(-10, FALSE); // -10 var_dump($val); // 0, on the other hand, is treated as FALSE, so is "lower than" TRUE $val = max(0, TRUE); // TRUE var_dump($val);

Changelog

See also

min(), count()

All PHP 8.5 built-in functions

Reference card built from the PHP manual page max() (PHP documentation, CC BY 3.0). The page is generated from the manual, so the wording of the parameter and return value text follows php.net.