bccomp

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

bccompCompare two arbitrary precision numbers

Description

bccomp(string $num1, string $num2, ?int $scale = null): int

Compares the num1 to the num2 and returns the result as an integer.

Parameters

num1

The left operand, as a string.

num2

The right operand, as a string.

scale

The optional scale parameter is used to set the number of digits after the decimal place which will be used in the comparison.

Return Values

Returns 0 if the two operands are equal, 1 if the num1 is larger than the num2, -1 otherwise.

Changelog

Version Description
8.0.0 scale is now nullable.

Examples

Example #1 bccomp() example

<?php

echo bccomp('1', '2') . "\n"; // -1
echo bccomp('1.00001', '1', 3); // 0
echo bccomp('1.00001', '1', 5); // 1

?>
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User Contributed Notes 9 notes

up
22
Robert Lozyniak
14 years ago
Beware that negative zero does not compare equal to positive zero.
up
11
aaugrin at gmail dot com
6 years ago
BEWARE! left and right operand is string!! so number in E-notation like 9.012E-6  need to be converted with sprintf('%F') to string
up
-6
m dot kaczanowski at alianet dot pl
15 years ago
Improvement of functions bcmax() and bcmin() originaly written by frank at booksku dot com

<?php

function bcmax() {
 
$args = func_get_args();
  if (
count($args)==0) return false;
 
$max = $args[0];
  foreach(
$args as $value) {
    if (
bccomp($value, $max)==1) {
     
$max = $value;
    }
  }
  return
$max;
}

function
bcmin() {
 
$args = func_get_args();
  if (
count($args)==0) return false;
 
$min = $args[0];
  foreach(
$args as $value) {
    if (
bccomp($min, $value)==1) {
     
$min = $value;
    }
  }
  return
$min;
}
?>
up
-10
Nitrogen
15 years ago
I made this to compare an unlimited size of numbers..

This could be useful for those without the BCMath extension.

It allows decimals, and option $Scale parameter.  If $Scale isn't specified, then it'll automatically adjust to the correct number of decimals to compare.

<?php

function Comp($Num1,$Num2,$Scale=null) {
 
// check if they're valid positive numbers, extract the whole numbers and decimals
 
if(!preg_match("/^\+?(\d+)(\.\d+)?$/",$Num1,$Tmp1)||
     !
preg_match("/^\+?(\d+)(\.\d+)?$/",$Num2,$Tmp2)) return('0');

 
// remove leading zeroes from whole numbers
 
$Num1=ltrim($Tmp1[1],'0');
 
$Num2=ltrim($Tmp2[1],'0');

 
// first, we can just check the lengths of the numbers, this can help save processing time
  // if $Num1 is longer than $Num2, return 1.. vice versa with the next step.
 
if(strlen($Num1)>strlen($Num2)) return(1);
  else {
    if(
strlen($Num1)<strlen($Num2)) return(-1);

   
// if the two numbers are of equal length, we check digit-by-digit
   
else {

     
// remove ending zeroes from decimals and remove point
     
$Dec1=isset($Tmp1[2])?rtrim(substr($Tmp1[2],1),'0'):'';
     
$Dec2=isset($Tmp2[2])?rtrim(substr($Tmp2[2],1),'0'):'';

     
// if the user defined $Scale, then make sure we use that only
     
if($Scale!=null) {
       
$Dec1=substr($Dec1,0,$Scale);
       
$Dec2=substr($Dec2,0,$Scale);
      }

     
// calculate the longest length of decimals
     
$DLen=max(strlen($Dec1),strlen($Dec2));

     
// append the padded decimals onto the end of the whole numbers
     
$Num1.=str_pad($Dec1,$DLen,'0');
     
$Num2.=str_pad($Dec2,$DLen,'0');

     
// check digit-by-digit, if they have a difference, return 1 or -1 (greater/lower than)
     
for($i=0;$i<strlen($Num1);$i++) {
        if((int)
$Num1{$i}>(int)$Num2{$i}) return(1);
        else
          if((int)
$Num1{$i}<(int)$Num2{$i}) return(-1);
      }

     
// if the two numbers have no difference (they're the same).. return 0
     
return(0);
    }
  }
}

$A="10.50002";
$B="10.50001";

printf("  Comp(%s,%s); // %s\r\n",$A,$BComp($A,$B));
printf("BCComp(%s,%s); // %s\r\n",$A,$B,BCComp($A,$B));

/*
    Comp(10.50002,10.50001); // 1
  BCComp(10.50002,10.50001); // 0 (BCComp has a default decimal scale of 0, unless specified)
*/

?>

I tried to make this behave like BCComp..

The only difference being mine will compare the decimals by default.. BCComp won't..
.. unless, of course, you specify the amount of decimals to include in the process.
Enjoy,
Nitrogen.
up
-10
Anonymous
19 years ago
Note that the above function defeats the purpose of BCMath functions, for it uses the 'conventional' < operator.
Instead, it should be:
<?php
function my_bccomp_zero($amount, $scale)
{
   if (@
$amount{0}=="-")
   {
       return
bccomp($amount, '-0.0', $scale);
   }
   else
   {
       return
bccomp($amount, '0.0', $scale);
   }
}
?>
up
-12
github.com/alixaxel/phunction/
12 years ago
You can wrap this function with version_compare() to have support for operators and friendlier (boolean) return values.

<?php

function _bccomp($a, $b, $operator = '=')
{
    return
version_compare(bccomp($a, $b), 0, $operator);
}

var_dump(_bccomp(5, 3, '>=')); // true

?>

Still works with arbitrary length numbers.
up
-8
frank at booksku dot com
19 years ago
I slapped together min() and max() functions using bccomp().  While min() and max() only take an arbitrary number of args (i.e. max(1, 5, 1235, 12934, 66)) bccomp only takes 2.

Note that this doesn't take into account $scale.

<?php

function bcmax() {
 
$max = null;
  foreach(
func_get_args() as $value) {
    if (
$max == null) {
     
$max = $value;
    } else if (
bccomp($max, $value) < 0) {
     
$max = $value;
    }
  }
  return
$max;
}

function
bcmin() {
 
$min = null;
  foreach(
func_get_args() as $value) {
    if (
$min == null) {
     
$min = $value;
    } else if (
bccomp($min, $value) > 0) {
     
$min = $value;
    }
  }
  return
$min;
}
?>
up
-11
Artur Kuritsyn
7 years ago
bccomp - doesn't compare by default more then 16 characters

$number = '-4.444444444444444444444444444444444444444444445';
$precision = 16;
var_dump(bccomp(bcadd($number, '0', $precision), bcadd($number, '0', $precision+1)));

//outputs 0 on PHP 5.3

use strcomp
up
-17
simonrataj at seznam dot cz
8 years ago
In PHP 7, bccomp($a, $b) is the same as $a <=> $b.
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