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WP_Token_Map::longest_first_then_alphabetical( string $a, string $b ): int

Since
6.6.0
Source
wp-includes/class-wp-token-map.php:817
Compares two strings, returning the longest, or whichever is first alphabetically if they are the same length.

Description

This is an important sort when building the token map because it should not form a match on a substring of a longer potential match. For example, it should not detect Cap when matching against the string CapitalDifferentialD.

Compatibility

WordPress
since 6.6.0
PHP
7.4–8.6-dev
  • 6.7.7
  • 6.8.8
  • 6.9.7
  • 7.0.4
  • 7.1.0

Present in every tracked release (6.7.7 to 7.1.0), and compiles on PHP 7.4 through 8.6-dev.

Parameters

$astring
First string to compare.
$bstring
Second string to compare.

Return value

int
-1 or lower if $a is less than $b; 1 or greater if $a is greater than $b, and 0 if they are equal.

Performance profile

How much work a call to WP_Token_Map::longest_first_then_alphabetical() does, and what it touches: the algorithmic scaling, the Zend instruction count per call across PHP versions, the hooks it hands control to, and the core code that calls it. Measured from the compiled opcodes, not a stopwatch, so every number is identical on any machine running the same PHP version, and every function in core is ranked by cost.

Cost class
Trivial

Touches nothing outside its own arguments.

Scaling
Constant

No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.

Instructions
5–13

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 16.

Plugin surface
None

Nothing here hands control to plugin code.

Called by
1

1 place in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.

What one call costs · 2 distinct outcomes

One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost WP_Token_Map::longest_first_then_alphabetical() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

WhenInstructionsCalls it makes
always5–10none
$a !== false && $length_a === false13strcmp()

Across PHP versions

Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 16 instructions, 5–13 executed per call, 2 branches. The work does not change between versions.

An instruction is not a fixed amount of time, so a matching count is not necessarily the same speed; what it rules out is a difference in the work itself.

Used by · 1

Source code

View on Trac View on GitHub 

	private static function longest_first_then_alphabetical( string $a, string $b ): int {		if ( $a === $b ) {			return 0;		} 		$length_a = strlen( $a );		$length_b = strlen( $b ); 		// Longer strings are less-than for comparison's sake.		if ( $length_a !== $length_b ) {			return $length_b - $length_a;		} 		return strcmp( $a, $b );	}

Changelog

Introduced in 6.6.0. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 7.1.0.

  1. 6.7.7
  2. 6.8.8
  3. 6.9.7
  4. 7.0.4
  5. 7.1.0

Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.

About this page

Parsed data
Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.1.0 tag, from src/wp-includes/class-wp-token-map.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.
Corrections
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