Compare floats in php

Question

I want to compare two floats in PHP, like in this sample code:

$a = 0.17;
$b = 1 - 0.83; //0.17
if($a == $b ){
 echo \'a and b are same\';
}
else {
 echo \'a         


        

Answer 1

Function from @evilReiko have some bugs like these:

cmpFloats(-0.1, '==', 0.1); // Expected: false, actual: true
cmpFloats(-0.1, '<', 0.1); // Expected: true, actual: false
cmpFloats(-4, '<', -3); // Expected: true, actual: true
cmpFloats(-5.004, '<', -5.003); // Expected: true, actual: false

In my function I've fixed these bugs, but anyway in some cases this function return wrong answers:

cmpFloats(0.0000001, '==', -0.0000001); // Expected: false, actual: true
cmpFloats(843994202.303411, '<', 843994202.303413); // Expected: true, actual: false
cmpFloats(843994202.303413, '>', 843994202.303411); // Expected: true, actual: false

Fixed function for compare floats

function cmpFloats($a, $operation, $b, $decimals = 15)
{
    if ($decimals < 0) {
        throw new Exception('Invalid $decimals ' . $decimals . '.');
    }
    if (!in_array($operation, ['==', '!=', '>', '>=', '<', '<='])) {
        throw new Exception('Invalid $operation ' . $operation . '.');
    }

    $aInt = (int)$a;
    $bInt = (int)$b;

    $aIntLen = strlen((string)$aInt);
    $bIntLen = strlen((string)$bInt);

    // We'll not used number_format because it inaccurate with very long numbers, instead will use str_pad and manipulate it as string
    $aStr = (string)$a;//number_format($a, $decimals, '.', '');
    $bStr = (string)$b;//number_format($b, $decimals, '.', '');

    // If passed null, empty or false, then it will be empty string. So change it to 0
    if ($aStr === '') {
        $aStr = '0';
    }
    if ($bStr === '') {
        $bStr = '0';
    }

    if (strpos($aStr, '.') === false) {
        $aStr .= '.';
    }
    if (strpos($bStr, '.') === false) {
        $bStr .= '.';
    }

    $aIsNegative = strpos($aStr, '-') !== false;
    $bIsNegative = strpos($bStr, '-') !== false;

    // Append 0s to the right
    $aStr = str_pad($aStr, ($aIsNegative ? 1 : 0) + $aIntLen + 1 + $decimals, '0', STR_PAD_RIGHT);
    $bStr = str_pad($bStr, ($bIsNegative ? 1 : 0) + $bIntLen + 1 + $decimals, '0', STR_PAD_RIGHT);

    // If $decimals are less than the existing float, truncate
    $aStr = substr($aStr, 0, ($aIsNegative ? 1 : 0) + $aIntLen + 1 + $decimals);
    $bStr = substr($bStr, 0, ($bIsNegative ? 1 : 0) + $bIntLen + 1 + $decimals);

    $aDotPos = strpos($aStr, '.');
    $bDotPos = strpos($bStr, '.');

    // Get just the decimal without the int
    $aDecStr = substr($aStr, $aDotPos + 1, $decimals);
    $bDecStr = substr($bStr, $bDotPos + 1, $decimals);

    $aDecLen = strlen($aDecStr);
    //$bDecLen = strlen($bDecStr);

    // To match 0.* against -0.*
    $isBothZeroInts = $aInt == 0 && $bInt == 0;

    if ($operation === '==') {
        return $aStr === $bStr ||
            ($isBothZeroInts && $aDecStr === $bDecStr && $aIsNegative === $bIsNegative);
    } elseif ($operation === '!=') {
        return $aStr !== $bStr ||
            $isBothZeroInts && $aDecStr !== $bDecStr;
    } elseif ($operation === '>') {
        if ($aInt > $bInt) {
            return true;
        } elseif ($aInt < $bInt) {
            return false;
        } else {// Ints equal, check decimals
            if ($aIsNegative !== $bIsNegative) {
                return (!$aIsNegative && $bIsNegative);
            }

            if ($aDecStr === $bDecStr) {
                return false;
            } else {
                for ($i = 0; $i < $aDecLen; ++$i) {
                    $aD = (int)$aDecStr[$i];
                    $bD = (int)$bDecStr[$i];

                    if ($aIsNegative && $bIsNegative) {
                        if ($aD < $bD) {
                            return true;
                        } elseif ($aD > $bD) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    } else {
                        if ($aD > $bD) {
                            return true;
                        } elseif ($aD < $bD) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    } elseif ($operation === '>=') {
        if ($aInt > $bInt ||
            $aStr === $bStr ||
            $isBothZeroInts && $aDecStr === $bDecStr) {
            return true;
        } elseif ($aInt < $bInt) {
            return false;
        } else {// Ints equal, check decimals
            if ($aIsNegative !== $bIsNegative) {
                return (!$aIsNegative && $bIsNegative);
            }

            if ($aDecStr === $bDecStr) {// Decimals also equal
                return true;
            } else {
                for ($i = 0; $i < $aDecLen; ++$i) {
                    $aD = (int)$aDecStr[$i];
                    $bD = (int)$bDecStr[$i];

                    if ($aIsNegative && $bIsNegative) {
                        if ($aD < $bD) {
                            return true;
                        } elseif ($aD > $bD) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    } else {
                        if ($aD > $bD) {
                            return true;
                        } elseif ($aD < $bD) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    } elseif ($operation === '<') {
        if ($aInt < $bInt) {
            return true;
        } elseif ($aInt > $bInt) {
            return false;
        } else {// Ints equal, check decimals
            if ($aIsNegative !== $bIsNegative) {
                return ($aIsNegative && !$bIsNegative);
            }

            if ($aDecStr === $bDecStr) {
                return false;
            } else {
                for ($i = 0; $i < $aDecLen; ++$i) {
                    $aD = (int)$aDecStr[$i];
                    $bD = (int)$bDecStr[$i];

                    if ($aIsNegative && $bIsNegative) {
                        if ($aD > $bD) {
                            return true;
                        } elseif ($aD < $bD) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    } else {
                        if ($aD < $bD) {
                            return true;
                        } elseif ($aD > $bD) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    } elseif ($operation === '<=') {
        if ($aInt < $bInt ||
            $aStr === $bStr ||
            $isBothZeroInts && $aDecStr === $bDecStr) {
            return true;
        } elseif ($aInt > $bInt) {
            return false;
        } else {// Ints equal, check decimals
            if ($aIsNegative !== $bIsNegative) {
                return ($aIsNegative && !$bIsNegative);
            }

            if ($aDecStr === $bDecStr) {// Decimals also equal
                return true;
            } else {
                for ($i = 0; $i < $aDecLen; ++$i) {
                    $aD = (int)$aDecStr[$i];
                    $bD = (int)$bDecStr[$i];

                    if ($aIsNegative && $bIsNegative) {
                        if ($aD > $bD) {
                            return true;
                        } elseif ($aD < $bD) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    } else {
                        if ($aD < $bD) {
                            return true;
                        } elseif ($aD > $bD) {
                            return false;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer for your question

$a = 1 - 0.83;// 0.17
$b = 0.17;
if($a == $b) {
    echo 'same';
} else {
    echo 'different';
}
// Output: different (wrong)

if(cmpFloats($a, '==', $b)) {
    echo 'same';
} else {
    echo 'different';
}
// Output: same (correct)