The following tables demonstrate behaviors of PHP types and comparison operators, for both loose and strict comparisons. This supplemental is also related to the manual section on type juggling. Inspiration was provided by various user comments and by the work over at » BlueShoes.
Before utilizing these tables, it's important to understand types and their
meanings. For example, "42"
is a string
while 42
is an int. false
is a
bool while "false"
is a
string.
Note:
HTML Forms do not pass integers, floats, or booleans; they pass strings. To find out if a string is numeric, you may use is_numeric().
Note:
Simply doing
if ($x)
while $x is undefined will generate an error of levelE_NOTICE
. Instead, consider using empty() or isset() and/or initialize your variables.
Note:
Some numeric operations can result in a value represented by the constant
NAN
. Any loose or strict comparisons of this value against any other value, including itself, but excepttrue
, will have a result offalse
. (i.e.NAN != NAN
andNAN !== NAN
) Examples of operations that produceNAN
includesqrt(-1)
,asin(2)
, andacosh(0)
.
Expression | gettype() | empty() | is_null() | isset() | bool : if($x) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
$x = ""; |
string | true |
false |
true |
false |
$x = null; |
NULL | true |
true |
false |
false |
var $x; |
NULL | true |
true |
false |
false |
$x is undefined | NULL | true |
true |
false |
false |
$x = []; |
array | true |
false |
true |
false |
$x = ['a', 'b']; |
array | false |
false |
true |
true |
$x = false; |
bool | true |
false |
true |
false |
$x = true; |
bool | false |
false |
true |
true |
$x = 1; |
int | false |
false |
true |
true |
$x = 42; |
int | false |
false |
true |
true |
$x = 0; |
int | true |
false |
true |
false |
$x = -1; |
int | false |
false |
true |
true |
$x = "1"; |
string | false |
false |
true |
true |
$x = "0"; |
string | true |
false |
true |
false |
$x = "-1"; |
string | false |
false |
true |
true |
$x = "php"; |
string | false |
false |
true |
true |
$x = "true"; |
string | false |
false |
true |
true |
$x = "false"; |
string | false |
false |
true |
true |
true |
false |
1 |
0 |
-1 |
"1" |
"0" |
"-1" |
null |
[] |
"php" |
"" |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
true |
true |
false |
true |
false |
true |
true |
false |
true |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
true |
false |
false |
true |
false |
true |
true |
false |
true |
1 |
true |
false |
true |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
0 |
false |
true |
false |
true |
false |
false |
true |
false |
true |
false |
false * |
false * |
-1 |
true |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
"1" |
true |
false |
true |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
"0" |
false |
true |
false |
true |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
"-1" |
true |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
null |
false |
true |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
true |
false |
true |
[] |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
true |
false |
false |
"php" |
true |
false |
false |
false * |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
"" |
false |
true |
false |
false * |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
true |
true
prior to PHP 8.0.0.
true |
false |
1 |
0 |
-1 |
"1" |
"0" |
"-1" |
null |
[] |
"php" |
"" |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
true |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
1 |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
0 |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
-1 |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
"1" |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
"0" |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
"-1" |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
false |
null |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
false |
[] |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
false |
"php" |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |
false |
"" |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
false |
true |