This function implements a comparison algorithm that orders alphanumeric strings in the way a human being would, this is described as a "natural ordering". An example of the difference between this algorithm and the regular computer string sorting algorithms (used in strcmp()) can be seen below:
<?php |
Standard string comparison Array ( [0] => img1.png [1] => img10.png [2] => img12.png [3] => img2.png ) Natural order string comparison Array ( [0] => img1.png [1] => img2.png [2] => img10.png [3] => img12.png ) |
Similar to other string comparison functions, this one returns < 0 if str1 is less than str2; > 0 if str1 is greater than str2, and 0 if they are equal.
Note that this comparison is case sensitive.
See also ereg(), strcasecmp(), substr(), stristr(), strcmp(), strncmp(), strncasecmp(), strnatcasecmp(), strstr(), natsort() and natcasesort().