PHP Data Types

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PHP Data Types are used to hold different types of data or values. PHP supports 8 primitive data types that can be categorized further in 3 types:

• Scalar Types (predefined)
• Compound Types (user-defined)
• Special Types

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PHP Data Types: Scalar Types

It holds only single value. There are 4 scalar data type in PHP.

• boolean
• integer
• float
• string

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PHP Data Types: Compound Types

It can hold multiple values. There are 2 compound data type in PHP.

• array<
• object

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PHP Data Types: Special Type

There are 2 special data type in PHP.

• resource
• NULL

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PHP Boolean

Booleans are the simplest data type works like switch. It holds only two values: TRUE (1) or FALSE (0). It is often used with conditional statements. If the condition is correct, it returns TRUE otherwise FALSE.

Example:

<?php 

    if (TRUE)

        echo "This condition is TRUE.";

    if (FALSE)

        echo "This condition is FALSE.";

?>

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PHP Integer

Integer means numeric data with a negative or positive sign. It holds only whole numbers, i.e., numbers without fractional part or decimal points.

Example:

<?php 

    $dec1 = 34;

    $oct1 = 0243;

    $hexa1 = 0x45;

    echo "Decimal number: " .$dec1. "</br>";

    echo "Octal number: " .$oct1. "</br>";

    echo "HexaDecimal number: " .$hexa1. "</br>";

?>

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PHP Float

A floating-point number is a number with a decimal point. Unlike integer, it can hold numbers with a fractional or decimal point, including a negative or positive sign.

Example:

<?php 

    $n1 = 19.34;

    $n2 = 54.472;

    $sum = $n1 + $n2;

    echo "Addition of floating numbers: " .$sum;

?>

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PHP String

A string is a non-numeric data type. It holds letters or any alphabets, numbers, and even special characters.

Example:

<?php 

    $company = "AskAtul";

    //both single and double quote statements will treat different

    echo "Hello $company";

    echo "</br>";

    echo 'Hello $company';

?>

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PHP Array

An array is a compound data type. It can store multiple values of same data type in a single variable.

Example:

<?php 

    $bikes = array ("Royal Enfield", "Yamaha", "KTM");

    var_dump($bikes);   //the var_dump() function returns the datatype and value

    echo "</br>";

    echo "Array Element1: $bikes[0] </br>";

    echo "Array Element2: $bikes[1] </br>";

    echo "Array Element3: $bikes[2] </br>";

?>

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PHP object

Objects are the instances of user-defined classes that can store both values and functions. They must be explicitly declared.

Example:

<?php 

     class bike {

          function model() {

               $model_name = "Royal Enfield";

               echo "Bike Model: " .$model_name;

             }

     }

     $obj = new bike();

     $obj -> model();

?>

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PHP Resource

Resources are not the exact data type in PHP. Basically, these are used to store some function calls or references to external PHP resources. For example – a database call. It is an external resource.

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PHP Null

Null is a special data type that has only one value: NULL. There is a convention of writing it in capital letters as it is case sensitive.

Example:

<?php 

    $nl = NULL;

    echo $nl;   //it will not give any output

?>

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