PHP: gettype - Manual

Description

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 comparison.

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.

User Contributed Notes
gettype

matt at appstate
16-Dec-2004 02:10


Here is something that had me stumped with regards to gettype and is_object.

Gettype will report an incomplete object as such, whereas is_object will return FALSE.



if (!is_object($incomplete_obj)) {

   echo 'This variable is not an object, it is a/an ' . gettype($incomplete_obj);

}



Will print:

This variable is not an object, it is a/an object

jose at vocis dot com
14-Sep-2000 12:22


Also returns "NULL" for variables assigned the return of a function that returned no value via "return;". 





<code>





function weird(){


    return;


}


$a=weird();





</code>





isset($a) <> 1


empty($a) <> 1


gettype($a) == NULL





-Jose Batista

ojones at dotclick dot com
31-Aug-2000 01:19


After calling OCIResult to retrieve a NULL result from an Oracle result-set, gettype returns the string 'NULL'.