Bug->Doc #78992 [Opn->Ver]: Strange behavior of SORT_REGULAR insufficiently documented

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=78992&edit=1 ID: 78992 Updated by: cmb@php.net Reported by: kfiadeg at gmail dot com -Summary: Inconsistent sorting +Summary: Strange behavior of SORT_REGULAR insufficiently documented -Status: Open +Status: Verified -Type: Bug +Type: Documentation Problem Package: Arrays related Operating System: Linux PHP Version: 7.3.13 Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: While there is already a warning regarding this behavior, I think the warning message and the description of SORT_REGULAR can be improved. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2019-12-18 17:15:41] as@php.net Interesting. The string "8e7" is interpreted differently by zendi_smart_strcmp[0] depending on the element it is being compared to. If the other element is numeric, it is interpreted as scientific notation (8*10^7). If the other element is non-numeric, it is interpreted as a string. As a result, the element "8e7" effectively takes on different values for each iteration of the sort algorithm. Changing this behavior would be a bc break. However it feels worth documenting that SORT_REGULAR has counter-intuitive / buggy behavior. [0] https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/2a76384b87cd8c48c626641ac9e820e426d47de8/Zend/zend_operators.c#L2724-L2773 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2019-12-18 15:07:57] kfiadeg at gmail dot com Description: ------------ I've encountered inconsistency with sorting string arrays. Sorting arrays that have the same set of elements but in different order produce different results when used with sort() function (without any flags). Test script: --------------- https://pastebin.com/4uKk37by Expected result: ---------------- If arrays have the same set of elements, performing sort() on each of them should give the same order of elements for every array. Actual result: -------------- After sorting array elements keep different order. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=78992&edit=1