What is the difference between sorting a PHP array using SORT_STRING and natsort?

When sorting a PHP array using SORT_STRING, the elements are sorted based on their alphanumeric value as strings. On the other hand, natsort sorts the elements in a more human-friendly way, taking into account numbers within the strings. This means that natsort will sort strings with numbers in a more intuitive order compared to SORT_STRING. 

$fruits = array("apple10", "apple2", "apple1", "orange20", "orange1");
sort($fruits, SORT_STRING);
print_r($fruits); // Output: Array ( [0] => apple1 [1] => apple10 [2] => apple2 [3] => orange1 [4] => orange20 )

natsort($fruits);
print_r($fruits); // Output: Array ( [2] => apple1 [1] => apple2 [0] => apple10 [4] => orange1 [3] => orange20 )

Keywords

PHP array sorting SORT_STRING natsort comparison algorithm

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