In which case PHP sort function returns FALSE?

Question

PHP sort() function and other functions from this family returns true on success or false on failure. In which case sort function returns false? What is possible source of failure?

Example:

$array = [1, 5, 22, 8, 3, 3];
$returnValue = sort($array);
var_dump($returnValue);   // bool(true)

I can't imagine any case in which $returnValue could be false.

I have also tried sort variants with user-defined comparison function, which can possibly introduce some error, but with no success.

$array = [1, 5, 22, 8, 3, 3];
$returnValue = usort($array, function($a, $b) { return 'Hello World'; });
var_dump($returnValue);   // bool(true)

Actually you can do whatever you want in your comparison function, because callback's return value is internally casted to integer, and you will get $returnValue === true everytime. This also applies for user-defined comparison function without returned value. PHP returns null in this case, which is internally casted to integer: (int)null === 0 and thus everything is correct.

Answer 1

It will return false if parameter one is not an array