Can PHP throw an error instead of autocasting strings to numbers?

Question

I'm writing both the JavaScript and PHP of an app, and bugs like descriptions showing up as "0" due to typos like $desc = $row[0] + " - " + $row[1]; annoy me.

Does PHP have a setting to disable automatic casting of strings to numbers, so i don't notice those typos at the last moment?

The example is not clear `$desc = $row[0] + " - " + $row[1];`. If this supposed to be PHP, it's not correct. — marekful, Nov 20 '13 at 14:50
Are you looking for a feature of PHP that will eliminate problems arising from typos? — marekful, Nov 20 '13 at 14:51
Instead of snide remarks, you could point me to a dupe like: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13905806/prevent-php-object-from-auto-casting — Cees Timmerman, Nov 20 '13 at 15:01
@CeesTimmerman I guess what you actually look for is decent static code analyzer (for PHP/JS). There are [some](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/378959/is-there-a-static-code-analyzer-like-lint-for-php-files). — raina77ow, Nov 20 '13 at 16:11
Did you decide how to move forward yet? You are free to answer your own question if you choose to go with one of the comments or went with something entirely different then mentioned on this page. (As far as I know.) — Darsstar, Nov 21 '13 at 12:04
@Darsstar I still have to wait 21 hours to approve [my answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/20104504/819417). — Cees Timmerman, Nov 21 '13 at 16:51

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 20 '13 at 15:04

2

You could sacrifice some performance to gain some consistency and use PHP's sprintf() and sprintf.js

answered Nov 20 '13 at 15:04

Darsstar

1,885
1
14
14

Was thinking before my answer "isn't there a concat function that I have used a lot in php...?". – Jite Nov 20 '13 at 15:06
I didn't know about the existence of sprint.js before I googled it. I'm glad it does exist, although it being native to javascript would have been even better. – Darsstar Nov 20 '13 at 15:14

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 20 '13 at 14:57

1

+ instead of . is not wrong, its just not what you intended. If you have big issues with this, you could always make your own concat function to use instead, like:

<?php
function concatString(){
   $list = $arglist = func_get_args();
   $ret = "";
   for($i=0;$i<count($arglist);$i++){
     $ret .= $arglist[$i];
   }
   return $ret;
}
echo concatString("Test", "test2", $anotherVar);

answered Nov 20 '13 at 14:57

Jite

5,761
2
23
37

Thanks, but i'd rather not mess up PHP any further. – Cees Timmerman Nov 20 '13 at 14:58

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 20 '13 at 14:52

0

use $desc = $row[0] . " - " . $row[1]; if you want to get a

answered Nov 20 '13 at 14:52

avrgavr

1
1

That's what i should have typed. Instead i used the JavaScript concatenation syntax, which is a typist mistake hence a "typo". – Cees Timmerman Nov 20 '13 at 14:55

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

No; PHP loves to autoconvert strings:

<?php
$foo = 1 + "10.5";                // $foo is float (11.5)
$foo = 1 + "-1.3e3";              // $foo is float (-1299)
$foo = 1 + "bob-1.3e3";           // $foo is integer (1)
$foo = 1 + "bob3";                // $foo is integer (1)
$foo = 1 + "10 Small Pigs";       // $foo is integer (11)
$foo = 4 + "10.2 Little Piggies"; // $foo is float (14.2)
$foo = "10.0 pigs " + 1;          // $foo is float (11)
$foo = "10.0 pigs " + 1.0;        // $foo is float (11)     
?>

As commented, manual code scanning can detect ridiculous cases like that, and could be automated by hooking saves. PHPLint on-line is free and easy to use:

PHPLint report

PHPLint 1.1_20130803
Copyright 2013 by icosaedro.it di Umberto Salsi
This is free software; see the license for copying conditions.
More info: http://www.icosaedro.it/phplint/


BEGIN parsing of test-p4Gx1L
1:      <?php
2:      $a = "Hi ";
3:      $b = "Bob";
4:      $c = $a + $b;

        $c = $a + $b;
                     \_ HERE
==== 4: ERROR: `EXPR + ...': expected number or array but found string

        $c = $a + $b;
                     \_ HERE
==== 4: ERROR: `... + EXPR': expected number or array but found string
5:      
6:      echo $c;
7:      ?>
END parsing of test-p4Gx1L
==== ?: notice: unused package `stdlib/dummy.php'
==== ?: notice: unused module `mysql'
==== ?: notice: unused module `pcre'
==== ?: notice: required module `standard'
Overall test results: 2 errors, 0 warnings.

Talking to MySQL can still produce unexpected results, though.

Can PHP throw an error instead of autocasting strings to numbers?

4 Answers4