Data Types in PHP | PHP Tutorial Part -2

In a previous article we already discussed the “Introduction of PHP,  Installation of PHP, Syntax of PHP, and variables in PHP”. Now in this tutorial we learn data types in PHP. There are eight different types of Data Types in PHP. Similar to Python and C, only one additional type of data type is here, which is “Resource”.

Data Types in PHP

In the Hypertext Preprocessor programming language there are a total of eight different types of data types, as you can see below.

1. Integer
2. Float
3. String
4. Boolean
5. Array
6. Object
7. Null
8. Resource

These are all categorized in three main ways :-

• Scalar Types (predefined) – It holds only single value.
• Compound Types (user-defined) – It can hold multiple values.
• Special Types – Special type data type.

Integer

In programming languages, we know that an integer data type is known as counting numbers or the whole numbers(positive and negative) without a decimal point. Integers data types are non-decimal numbers between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647. They are the simplest data types. The size of integers depends on the platform where PHP runs.

Rules for integer:

• An integer does not contain any decimal points.
• It is mandatory that an integer have at least one digit.
• An integer is either positive or negative.
• An Integer can be decimal (base 10), octal (base 8), or hexadecimal (base 16).

Example

<?php
$x = 598;
$y = 456;
echo $x+$y;
?>

In the above example, you can see that we are taking two different types of integer data types whose values are stored in variables $x and $y and after that we add both of them and print the output with the help of the echo keyword.

1054

Here in this image you have seen the output of the previous program.

Congratulations!  You have made your first PHP program.

String

A string is a combination of characters. It holds letters, alphabets, numbers, and even special characters. A string is a non-numeric data type. String values are surrounded by single quotes (‘ ) or double quotes (” ).
Example

<?php
$b = 'Welcome to PHP string';
echo $b;
?>

Note –  You can also use doubles quotes to represent a string.

Welcome to PHP string

PHP String Methods

• strrev() – You can use this function to reverse a string.
• str_replace() – It replaces some characters with some other characters in a string.
• strlen() – It returns the length of the string.
• str_word_count() – This function counts the number of words in a string.
• strtolower() – It converts the whole string into lower case.
• strtoupper() – It converts the whole string into the upper case.
• strcmp() – This method helps to compare two strings.
• trim() – This function removes whitespace and other predefined characters from both sides of a string.

To learn more methods of PHP strings click here.

Float

Float stands for Floating point number. Those types of numbers, which are in exponential form or numbers with a decimal point, include negative or positive signs. These numbers are also known as double or real numbers. Floating point numbers are larger than integers.

Example

<?php
$a = 15.895;
echo $a;
?>

15.895

<?php
$a = 20;
if ($a == 20) {
  echo "This is True condition";
} else {
  echo "This is false condition";
}
?>

This is True condition

Array

An array is a data type which can store multiple values only in one single variable. An array is a type of compound data  type that can hold many values under a single name, and you can easily access these values by its index numbers. In PHP there are three types of arrays :

1. Associative arrays -.An array with strings as index.
2. Indexed arrays – An array with a numeric index.
3. Multidimensional arrays – Values can be accessed using multiple index..

Example –

<?php
$name = array("Kishore", "Arjun", "Tanmay");
echo "My bestfriends are " . $name[0] . ", " . $name[1] . " and " . $name[2] . ".";
?>

My bestfriends are Kishore, Arjun and Tanmay.

Object

Objects are defined as instances of user-defined classes. It can hold both values and functions. Classes and objects are the two main aspects  of object-oriented programming. A class is a template for objects, and an object is an instance of a class.

<?php
     class car {
          function model() {
               $model_name = "Fortuner 4X4";
               echo "car Model: " .$model_name;
             }
     }
     $obj = new car();
     $obj -> model();
?>

car Model: Fortuner 4X4

Null Data Types

It is a special data type which consists of only  one value. Those types of variables which have no assigned value are known as Null data types. Null values are used to represent empty variables in PHP. If you create a variable without a value, then it is automatically assigned a Null value.

Example

<?php
$a =NULL;
var_dump($a);
?>

NULL

$a = 15.5; // float to integer  
echo "Conversion from float ",$a," to ";  
$a = (int)$a;  
echo "int ", $a;  
?>

Conversion from float 15.5 to int 15

Anshul Pal

Hey there, I’m Anshul Pal, a tech blogger and Computer Science graduate. I’m passionate about exploring tech-related topics and sharing the knowledge I’ve acquired. With two years of industry expertise in blogging and content writing, I’m also the co-founder of HVM Smart Solution. Thanks for reading my blog – Happy Learning!