When should one use intval and when int

Question

What is the better option:

// Option 1:
$intValue = (int) $numericValue;

// Option 2:
$intValue = intval($numericValue);

Is there any difference between these two lines, and which should be used in which situation?

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 17 '11 at 13:36

22

intval is slower than casting to int (it's a function)
intval can accept a base if its first parameter is a string

Since the second item is really obscure, objectively we should say that intval is simply "worse".

However, personally I like reading intval($var) better than (int)$var (the latter may also require wrapping in additional parens) and since if you are converting to int inside a loop you are definitely doing something wrong, I use intval.

answered Mar 17 '11 at 13:36

Jon

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Downvoter: Help me make the answer better. Thank you. – Jon Mar 17 '11 at 14:03
1

To address point #1, here's a speed comparison of the two: https://hakre.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/php-casting-vs-intval/ – hargobind Nov 17 '15 at 01:55

DhruvPathak · Answer 2 · 2011-03-17T13:32:14.753

5

All behaviour explained here along with GOTCHAS...

http://php.net/manual/en/function.intval.php

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.type-juggling.php

edited Mar 17 '11 at 13:32

answered Mar 17 '11 at 13:27

DhruvPathak

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When should one use intval and when int

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