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Integers

An integer is a number of the set Z = {..., -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, ...}.

See also: Arbitrary precision integers and Floating point numbers

Syntax

Integers can be specified in decimal (10-based), hexadecimal (16-based) or octal (8-based) notation, optionally preceded by a sign (- or +).

If you use the octal notation, you must precede the number with a 0 (zero), to use hexadecimal notation precede the number with 0x.

Example 6-1. Integer literals


$a = 1234; # decimal number
$a = -123; # a negative number
$a = 0123; # octal number (equivalent to 83 decimal)
$a = 0x1A; # hexadecimal number (equivalent to 26 decimal)
The size of an integer is platform-dependent, although a maximum value of about two billion is the usual value (that's 32 bits signed). PHP does not support unsigned integers.

Integer overflow

If you specify a number beyond the bounds of the integer-type, it will be interpreted as a float instead.

In PHP there is also no such thing as integer division. 1/2 yields the float 0.5. 


$large_number =  2147483647;
var_dump($large_number);
// output: int(2147483647)
$large_number =  2147483648;
var_dump($large_number);
// output: float(2147483648)

// this goes also for hexadecimal specified integers:

var_dump( 0x80000000 );
// output: float(2147483648)

var_dump( 25/7 );
// output: float(3.5714285714286)

Furthermore, if some function or operator yields a number that is beyond the boundaries of integer, it will also be automatically converted to float. 


$million = 1000000;
$large_number =  50000 * $million;
var_dump($large_number);
// output: float(50000000000)

Warning

Unfortunately, there was a bug in PHP so that this does not always work correctly when there are negative numbers involved. For example: when you do -50000 * $million, the result will be -429496728. However, when both operands are positive there is no problem.

This is solved in PHP 4.1.0

Converting to integer

To explicitly convert a value to integer, use either the (int) or the (integer) cast. However, in most cases you do not need to use the cast, since a value will be autmatically converted if an operator, function or control structure requires a integer-argument.

See also type-juggling.

From booleans

FALSE will yield 0 (zero), and TRUE will yield 1 (one).

From floating point numbers

When converting from float to integer, the number will be rounded towards zero.

If the float is beyond the boundaries of integer (usually +/- 2.15e+9 = 2^31), the result is undefined, since the float hasn't got enough precision to give an exact integer result. No warning, not even a notice will be issued in this case!

Warning

Never cast an unknown fraction to integer, as this can sometimes lead to unexpected results. 


echo (int) ( (0.1+0.7) * 10 ); // echoes 7!

See for more information the warning about float-precision.

From strings

See String conversion

From other types

Caution

Behaviour of converting to integer is undefined for other types. Currently, the behaviour is the same as if the value was first converted to boolean. However, do not relay on this behaviour, as it can change without notice.

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