Types

Introduction

Every single expression in PHP has one of the following built-in types depending on its value:

• null
• bool
• int
• float (floating-point number)
• string
• array
• object
• callable
• resource

PHP is a dynamically typed language, which means that by default there is no need to specify the type of a variable, as this will be determined at runtime. However, it is possible to statically type some aspect of the language via the use of type declarations. Different types that are supported by PHP's type system can be found at the type system page.

Types restrict the kind of operations that can be performed on them. However, if an expression/variable is used in an operation which its type does not support, PHP will attempt to type juggle the value into a type that supports the operation. This process depends on the context in which the value is used. For more information, see the section on Type Juggling.

To check the value and type of an expression, use the var_dump() function. To retrieve the type of an expression, use the get_debug_type() function. However, to check if an expression is of a certain type use the is_type functions instead.

Different Types

<?php
$a_bool = true;   // a bool
$a_str  = "foo";  // a string
$a_str2 = 'foo';  // a string
$an_int = 12;     // an int

echo get_debug_type($a_bool), "\n";
echo get_debug_type($a_str), "\n";

// If this is an integer, increment it by four
if (is_int($an_int)) {
    $an_int += 4;
}
var_dump($an_int);

// If $a_bool is a string, print it out
if (is_string($a_bool)) {
    echo "String: $a_bool";
}
?>

8

bool
string
int(16)

Type-system Null Boolean Integer Float String Numeric-strings Array Object Enumerations Resource Callable Mixed Void Never Relative-class-types Singleton Iterable Declarations Type-juggling