PHP Data Types
Variables can store data of different types, and different data types can do different things. PHP supports the following data types:
1. Scalar Types
These types hold a single value.
- String: A sequence of characters, like "Hello world!".
- Integer: A non-decimal number between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647.
- Float (Double): A number with a decimal point or a number in exponential form.
- Boolean: Represents two possible states:
trueorfalse.
$x = "Hello world!"; // String
$y = 5985; // Integer
$z = 10.365; // Float
$isActive = true; // Boolean2. Compound Types
These types can hold multiple values.
- Array: Stores multiple values in one single variable.
- Object: Instances of user-defined classes that can store both values and functions.
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota"); // Array
class Car {
public $color;
public $model;
public function __construct($color, $model) {
$this->color = $color;
$this->model = $model;
}
}
$myCar = new Car("black", "Volvo"); // Object3. Special Types
- NULL: A special data type which can have only one value:
NULL. A variable of data type NULL is a variable that has no value assigned to it. - Resource: Not an actual data type. It is the storing of a reference to functions and resources external to PHP (e.g., a database connection).
4. Checking Data Type
The var_dump() function returns the data type and value.
$x = 5;
var_dump($x); // int(5)programming/php/php programming/php/php-arrays programming/php/php-classes