Specify data type in PHP array

Question

I have an array which contains this

"postage_cost" => $customer[total_shipping_cost]

when I use var_dump I get

["postage_cost"]=>
  string(5) "34.54"

How can I declare that this is a float and not a string when making the array? I'm sending this array to a web service and I'm afraid there might be some data type confusion. The $customer result is from a MySQL request.

On a related note, don't store monetary values in floats due to their inherent imprecision. — deceze
– deceze ♦, Commented Feb 19, 2013 at 12:53
You may also want to look at using a class with a setter rather than an array. — dethtron5000
– dethtron5000, Commented Feb 19, 2013 at 12:55
@deceze could you please explain more? the manual of the api says this value should be a float. what is the imprecision? — jimmy
– jimmy, Commented Feb 19, 2013 at 13:01
as long as you just convert it before sending to the API, you're okay. But you should not do floating point math with monetary values. — Fabian Schmengler
– Fabian Schmengler, Commented Feb 19, 2013 at 13:08
What Every Computer Scientist Should Know About Floating-Point Arithmetic — deceze
– deceze ♦, Commented Feb 19, 2013 at 13:10

Fabian Schmengler · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-19 12:52:02Z

6

"postage_cost" => (float) $customer['total_shipping_cost']

Note that I added quotation marks to the key because i am to 99.999 % sure that you don't have a constant named total_shipping_cost. PHP is gracious about that but with activated error reporting, this would have been a Notice: undefined constant

answered Feb 19, 2013 at 12:52

Fabian Schmengler

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jimmy Over a year ago

Thanks, that solved the issue! (as well as all those Notice: undefined constant I was having...)

Fabien · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-19 12:54:58Z

2

"postage_cost" => $customer['total_shipping_cost'] + 0.0

or

"postage_cost" => (float) $customer['total_shipping_cost']

Beware that I added single quotes around total_shipping_quotes. This is not mandatory but is considered better style than raw text ; it is slightly faster, too.

answered Feb 19, 2013 at 12:54

Fabien

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Comments

user399666 · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-19 12:53:33Z

1

"postage_cost" => floatval($customer[total_shipping_cost])

answered Feb 19, 2013 at 12:53

user399666

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