PHP max() Function

Definition and Usage

The max () function returns highest element in array, or highest amongst two or more comma separated parameters.

Syntax

max ( array $values ) : mixed

Or

max ( mixed $value1 [, mixed $... ] ) : mixed

Parameters

Return Values

PHP max() function returns highest value from the array parameter or sequence of values. Standard comparison operators are applicable. If multiple values of different types evaluate as equal (e.g. 0 and 'PHP') the first parameter to the function will be returned.

PHP Version

This function is available in PHP versions 4.x, PHP 5.x as well as PHP 7.x.

Example

Following example returns highest value from numeric array.

<?php
   $arg=array(23, 5.55, 142, 56, 99);
   echo "array=";
   foreach ($arg as $i) echo $i . ",";
   echo "\n";
   echo "max = " . max($arg);
?>

Output

This will produce following result −

array=23,5.55,142,56,99,
max = 142

Example

Following example returns max() from array of strings.−

<?php
   $arg=array("Java", "Angular", "PHP", "C", "Kotlin");
   echo "array=";
   foreach ($arg as $i) echo $i . ",";
   echo "\n";
   echo "max = " . max($arg);
?>

Output

This will produce following result −

array=Java,Angular,PHP,C,Kotlin,
max = PHP

Example

Series of string values are provided to max() function in following example;

<?php
   $val1="Java";
   $val2="Angular";
   $val3="PHP";
   $val4="C";
   $val5="Kotlin";
   echo "values=" . $val1 . "," . $val2 . "," . $val3 . "," . $val4 . "," . $val5 . "\n";
   echo "max = " . max($val1, $val2, $val3,$val4,$val5);
?>

Output

This will produce following result −

values=Java,Angular,PHP,C,Kotlin
max = PHP

Example

In following example array is a collection of mixed data types −

<?php
   $arg=array(23, "Java", 142, 1e2, 99);
   echo "array=";
   foreach ($arg as $i) echo $i . ",";
   echo "\n";
   echo "max = " . max($arg);
?>

Output

This will produce following result −

array=23,Java,142,100,99,
max = 142