gettype

Get the type of a variable (PHP 3, PHP 4 )
string gettype ( mixed var )

Returns the type of the PHP variable var.

Warning:

Never use gettype() to test for a certain type, since the returned string may be subject to change in a future version. In addition, it is slow too, as it involves string comparision.

Instead, use the is_* functions.

Possibles values for the returned string are:

  • "boolean" (since PHP 4)
  • "integer"
  • "double" (for historical reasons "double" is returned in case of a float, and not simply "float")
  • "string"
  • "array"
  • "object"
  • "resource" (since PHP 4)
  • "NULL" (since PHP 4)
  • "user function" (PHP 3 only, deprecated)
  • "unknown type"

For PHP 4, you should use function_exists() and method_exists() to replace the prior usage of gettype() on a function.

See also settype(), is_array(), is_bool(), is_float(), is_integer(), is_null(), is_numeric(), is_object(), is_resource(), is_scalar(), and is_string().

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