How does PHP compare strings with comparison operators?

PHP will compare alpha strings using the greater than and less than comparison operators based upon alphabetical order.

• In the first example, ai comes before i in alphabetical order so the test of > (greater than) is false - earlier in the order is considered 'less than' rather than 'greater than'.

• In the second example, ia comes after i alphabetical order so the test of > (greater than) is true - later in the order being considered 'greater than'.

To expand on coderabbi's answer:

It is the same type of logic as when you order by number in some applications and get results like the following:

• 0
• 1
• 105
• 11
• 2
• 21
• 3
• 333
• 34

It's not based on string length, but rather each character in order of the string.