For example if I have:

$person1 = "10";
$person2 = "-";
$person3 = "5";

I need to determine the person with the highest number and prepend their string with a "W" and also determine the person with the lowest (numeric) number and prepend their string with a "L"

I am trying to output:

$person1 = "W10";
$person2 = "-";
$person3 = "L5";

$persons = array(10, '-', '12', 34 ) ; //array of persons, you define this
$max_index = array_search($max = max($persons), $persons);
$min_index = array_search($min = min($persons), $persons);
$persons[$max_index] = 'W' . $persons[$max_index];
$persons[$min_index] = 'L' . $persons[$min_index];

print_r($persons);

Hope that helps. It should give you hints on what functions to use. Peace Danuel

solution 2

foreach((array)$persons as $index=>$value){
        if(!is_numeric($value))continue;
        if(!isset($max_value)){
                $max_value = $value;
                $max_index = $index;
        }
        if(!isset($min_value)){
                $min_value = $value;
                $min_index = $index;
        }
        if( $max_value < $value ){
                $max_value = $value;
                $max_index = $index;
        }
        if( $min_value > $value ){
                $min_value = $value;
                $min_index = $index;
        }
}

@$persons[$max_index] = 'W'.$persons[$max_index];//@suppress some errors just in case
@$persons[$min_index] = 'L'.$persons[$min_index];

print_r($persons);

I would put each of the variables into an array and then use the array sort function.

$people = array (
   'person1' => $person1,
   'person2' => $person2,
   'person3' => $person3
);

asort($people);

$f = key($people);

end($people);
$l = key($people);

$people[$f] = 'L' . $people[$f];
$people[$l] = 'W' . $people[$l];

Person 1's score could then be reference by using $people_sorted['person1']

Here is a working solution that will work with any combination of people:

$people = array (
   'person1' => 4,
   'person2' => 10,
   'person3' => 0
);

arsort( $people); // Sort the array in reverse order

$first = key( $people); // Get the first key in the array

end( $people);
$last = key( $people); // Get the last key in the array

$people[ $first ] = 'W' . $people[ $first ];
$people[ $last  ] = 'L' . $people[ $last ];

var_dump( $people);

Output:

array(3) {
 ["person2"]=>
  string(3) "W10"
  ["person1"]=>
  int(4)
  ["person3"]=>
  string(2) "L0"
}