A function to get the smaller number

Question

Hi,

I have 2 variables each containing a number (integer). I would like to sort them to have the lowest number first and the second largest. For example:

$sortedVar = getSmaller(45, 62); // Will return 45
$sortedVar = getSmaller(87, 23); // Will return 23

Do you see what I want to do? Can you help me please? Thanks :)

Answer 1

function getSmaller($a, $b) {
    return $a < $b ? $a : $b;
}

In plain english, if $a is smaller than $b, then return $a, else return $b.

Or as others pointed out, there's also a function for that, called min().

Answer 2

http://php.net/manual/en/function.min.php

Answer 3

Use min() which supports any number of arguments as well as arrays.

$smallest = min(1,2); //returns 1
$smallest = min(4,3,2); //returns 2
$smallest = min(array(5,4)) //returns 4

Answer 4

$sortedVar = $a < $b ? $a : $b;