Data Types in PHP

PHP has a total of eight data types which we use to construct our variables to store data of different types.

PHP supports the following data types:

• String : are sequences of characters, like ‘PHP World’. A string can be any text inside quotes. You can use single or double quotes.
  Example
  [php]
  <?php $x = "PHP World"; echo $x; ?>
  [/php]
• Integer : are whole numbers, without a decimal point. An integer can be either positive or negative.
  Example
  [php]
  <?php $x = 5985; var_dump($x); ?>
  [/php]
• Float or Double : are floating point numbers with a decimal point
  Example
  [php]
  <?php $x = 10.365; var_dump($x); ?>
  [/php]
• Boolean : only two possible values either TRUE or FALSE
  Example
  [php]
  <?php
  $x = TRUE;
  $y = FALSE;
  if ($x) {
  print("This is true<br>");
  } else {
  print("This is false<br>");
  }
  ?>
  [/php]
• Array : stores multiple values in one single variable.
  Example
  [php]
  <?php
  $arr = array("PHP","MySql","HTML");
  var_dump($arr);
  ?>
  [/php]
• Object : are instances of classes, which stores data and information on how to process that data
  Example
  [php]
  <?php
  class Skills {
  function Skills() {
  $this->lang = "JS";
  }
  }

  // create an object
  $getlang = new Skills();

  // show object properties
  echo $getlang->lang;
  ?>
  [/php]

• NULL : is a special data type that only has one value: NULL.
  A variable of data type NULL is a variable that has no value assigned to it. If a variable is created without a value, it is automatically assigned a value of NULL. Also a variables can be emptied by assigning a value of NULL.
  Example
  [php]
  <?php
  $x = "PHP World";
  $x = null;
  var_dump($x);
  ?>
  [/php]
• Resource : is not an actual data type. It holds references to resources external to PHP
  A common example of using the resource data type is a database call.

Note : The PHP var_dump() function returns the data type and value