Posted By

mthorn on 08/09/06

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Last Edited at 08/09/06 05:03am

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Compare value _and_ type

/ Published in: PHP

Since PHP is typeless odd things can happen when a variable is not the type you expected. PHP treats 0, null, '0', false, and '' as false. Sometimes you really want to know if the value is false. The solution is simple, use the triple equal (===) operator.

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$value = '0';

// Here's how PHP works with the normal comparison operator:
    if ( $value )
    {
        // Since the $value is 0, PHP interprets it as false. However since 
        // this is a non-empty string one might expect it to be true.
        print "if ( {$value} )\n";
    }

if ( $value == false )
    {
        // PHP automatically converts strings to numbers when it things it 
        // needs to. This can cause problems because you may have wanted to
        // check for a boolean, not a string.
        print "if ( {$value} == false )\n";
    }

if ( $value == true )
    {
        // Since the value is both a string and numericaly 0, this evaluates
        // to false. I don't think there is any time when you would want it to
        // be true. Thankfully PHP doesn't think so either.
        print "if ( {$value} == true )\n";
    }

if ( $value == 0 )
    {
        // PHP will convert the value to the type you are comparing before
        // comparison. This may not be intented. However this evaluates
        // to true.
        print "if ( {$value} == 0 )\n";
    }

if ( $value == '0' )
    {
        // Since the value matches, this evaluates to true
        print "if ( {$value} == '0' )\n";
    }

// Now we try the === operator:
    if ( $value === 0 )
    {
        // Since the type of the value is not a number, this evaluates to false.
        print "if ( {$value} === 0 )\n";
    }

if ( $value === '0' )
    {
        // Since type _and_ value matches this evaluates to true.
        print "if ( {$value} === '0' )\n";
    }

// Some alternative ways to compare:
    if ( (int) $value === 0 )
    {
        // Since we typecast to an int, this works.
        print "if ( (int) {$value} === 0 )\n";
    }

if ( intval($value) === 0 )
    {
        // Intval takes the integer value of any string
        print "if ( intval({$value}) === 0 )\n";
    }

if ( (string) $value === '0' )
    {
        print "if ( (string) {$value} === '0' )\n";
    }

/*
    The above outputs:

if ( 0 == false )
    if ( 0 == 0 )
    if ( 0 == '0' )
    if ( 0 === '0' )
    if ( (int) 0 === 0 )
    if ( intval(0) === 0 )
    if ( (string) 0 === '0' )
    */

URL: http://www.mthorn.net

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