Compare two version strings in PHP

Question

How to compare two strings in version format? such that:

version_compare("2.5.1",  "2.5.2") => -1 (smaller)
version_compare("2.5.2",  "2.5.2") =>  0 (equal)
version_compare("2.5.5",  "2.5.2") =>  1 (bigger)
version_compare("2.5.11", "2.5.2") =>  1 (bigger, eleven is bigger than two)

Probably "natural order", have you tried php.net/strnatcmp ? — hakre
– hakre, Commented Dec 28, 2012 at 9:59
Test your code before you ask. I might just work (as in your case). -1 for that. — hakre
– hakre, Commented Dec 28, 2012 at 10:02
@hakre, sorry that I didn't realize there is actually a version_compare function in PHP ... and strnatcmp also works. — ohho
– ohho, Commented Dec 28, 2012 at 10:13
@hakre, my fault. I googled all around strcmp, but... It's my fault. — ohho
– ohho, Commented Dec 28, 2012 at 10:19

Charles · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-19 00:42:49Z

57

From the PHP interactive prompt using the version_compare function, built in to PHP since 4.1:

php > print_r(version_compare("2.5.1",  "2.5.2")); // expect -1
-1
php > print_r(version_compare("2.5.2",  "2.5.2")); // expect 0
0
php > print_r(version_compare("2.5.5",  "2.5.2")); // expect 1
1
php > print_r(version_compare("2.5.11", "2.5.2")); // expect 1
1

It seems PHP already works as you expect. If you are encountering different behavior, perhaps you should specify this.

edited Sep 19, 2013 at 0:42

answered Dec 28, 2012 at 10:01

Charles

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1 Comment

hakre Over a year ago

Can confirm. Just works. ALL PHP versions. 3v4l.org/U0mvm#v430 Same for the natural order compare.

Kiran Tej · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-12 10:57:49Z

10

Also, you can use the PHP built-in function as below by passing an extra argument to the version_compare()

if(version_compare('2.5.2', '2.5.1', '>')) {
 print "First arg is greater than second arg";
}

Please see version_compare for further queries.

answered Nov 12, 2013 at 10:57

Kiran Tej

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Comments

qwertz · Accepted Answer · 2023-10-06 07:40:47Z

1

Check out https://github.com/composer/semver.

comparison example:

use Composer\Semver\Comparator;

Comparator::greaterThan('1.25.0', '1.24.0'); // 1.25.0 > 1.24.0

edited Oct 6, 2023 at 7:40

answered Jan 26, 2023 at 8:27

qwertz

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Comments

Hans Wassink · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-28 10:09:43Z

0

If your version compare doesnt work, the code below will produce your results.

function new_version_compare($s1,$s2){
    $sa1 = explode(".",$s1);
    $sa2 = explode(".",$s2);
    if(($sa2[2]-$sa1[2])<0)
        return 1;
    if(($sa2[2]-$sa1[2])==0)
        return 0;
    if(($sa2[2]-$sa1[2])>0)
        return -1;
}

edited Dec 28, 2012 at 10:09

answered Dec 28, 2012 at 10:03

Hans Wassink

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1 Comment

mickmackusa Over a year ago

function new_new_version_compare($a, $b){ return explode(".", $a) <=> explode(".", $b); } ...but there's absolutely no reason to engineer a replacement for a perfectly suitable native function like version_compare().

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