Convert an integer or a float to a string in PHP

This article demonstrates how to convert an integer or a float to a string in PHP.

1. Using Variable Interpolation

You can use variable interpolation to get the string representation of an integer or a float. PHP will parse the interpolated variables inside a double-quoted string, and replace them with their corresponding values. You can interpolate variables within a string literal with or without curly braces. Note that interpolating a variable into a single-quoted string will not work.

<?php

$values = [

0, 0.0, 1, 1.0, -1, -1.0, 1.5, -1.5, 1.50, -1.50

];

foreach ($values as $value)

{

var_export($value);

echo " => ";

$result = "$value";

var_dump($result);

}

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This results in below output:

0 => string(1) "0" 0.0 => string(1) "0" 1 => string(1) "1" 1.0 => string(1) "1" -1 => string(2) "-1" -1.0 => string(2) "-1" 1.5 => string(3) "1.5" -1.5 => string(4) "-1.5" 1.5 => string(3) "1.5" -1.5 => string(4) "-1.5"

You may also use the Heredoc syntax, which behaves like a double-quoted string but without double quotes. In PHP, this looks like:

<?php

$values = [

0, 0.0, 1, 1.0, -1, -1.0, 1.5, -1.5, 1.50, -1.50

];

foreach ($values as $value)

{

var_export($value);

echo " => ";

$result= <<<END

$value

END;

var_dump($result);

}

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2. Using `strval()` function

PHP has a built-in function strval() which converts a value to a string. This function returns the string value of the specified variable. It can be used to convert a scalar type to a string, as follows:

<?php

$values = [

0, 0.0, 1, 1.0, -1, -1.0, 1.5, -1.5, 1.50, -1.50

];

foreach ($values as $value)

{

var_export($value);

echo " => ";

$result = strval($value);

var_dump($result);

}

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A more traditional way to convert a value to a string type is to explicitly cast it with the (string) cast. This works similarly to the strval() function. For example,

<?php

$values = [

0, 0.0, 1, 1.0, -1, -1.0, 1.5, -1.5, 1.50, -1.50

];

foreach ($values as $value)

{

var_export($value);

echo " => ";

$result = (string)$value;

var_dump($result);

}

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3. Using Concatenation operator

Finally, you can force a variable to be evaluated as a string type using the concatenation operator (.). It performs the concatenation of its right and left operands. The following example shows how to concatenate a numeric value with an empty string ("").

<?php

$values = [

0, 0.0, 1, 1.0, -1, -1.0, 1.5, -1.5, 1.50, -1.50

];

foreach ($values as $value)

{

var_export($value);

echo " => ";

$result = "" . $value;

var_dump($result);

}

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That’s all about converting an integer or a float to a string in PHP.

Convert an integer or a float to a string in PHP

1. Using Variable Interpolation

2. Using strval() function

3. Using Concatenation operator

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2. Using `strval()` function