[11.x] SORT_NATURAL on Collection no longer throws warning for nulls

[Chaplinski]

Currently, when using SORT_NATURAL on a Collection, any null values passed in throw a warning:

strnatcmp(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string1) of type string is deprecated in /vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Collections/Collection.php on line 1480

OR

strnatcmp(): Passing null to parameter #2 ($string2) of type string is deprecated in /vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Collections/Collection.php on line 1480

It's entirely valid and common for null values to get compared when using sortBy() and passing in an array of properties to sort by. Passing in multiple properties in an array is what triggers the sortByMany() function.

Example:

$book
->authors()
->sortBy([
        ['LastName', 'desc'],
        ['FirstName', 'desc'],
        ['MiddleName', 'desc'],
    ], SORT_NATURAL);

Not all authors will have a value for middle name. Receiving a warning for every missing middle name every time you sort authors is too much noise.

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[vlakoff]

strnatcasecmp() (line 1556), strcasecmp() (line 1558), strcmp() (line 1563) and strcoll() (line 1565) raise the same deprecation notice, so why not applying the same fix for them?

[Chaplinski]

strnatcasecmp() (line 1556), strcasecmp() (line 1558), strcmp() (line 1563) and strcoll() (line 1565) raise the same deprecation notice, so why not applying the same fix for them?

Good question. I was initially trying to fix a warning that had been plaguing my team for a while, but I can look into these other warnings as well.

[vlakoff]

Refs this question on Stack Overflow, some of the answers are interesting: Migration to PHP 8.1 - how to fix Deprecated Passing null to parameter error - rename build in functions

In the case at hand, ?? '' might be considered instead. It would make understand that the point is not to pass exclusively strings, but to avoid passing null specifically.