PHP Float and Number_Format

[mcfc4heatons]

I've seen this in some PHP source code:

number_format((float)$thenumber, 2, '.', '');

What is the difference between that and this?:

number_format($thenumber, 2, '.', '');

thanks...

Edited August 23, 2022 by mcfc4heatons
typo

[ginerjm]

Good question.  Here's what I did:

$thenumber = 12;
echo "$thenumber with float: ".number_format((float)$thenumber, 2, '.', '').'<br>';
echo "$thenumber without float: ".number_format($thenumber, 2, '.', '').'<br>';
$thenumber = 5.2;
echo "$thenumber with float: ".number_format((float)$thenumber, 2, '.', '').'<br>';
echo "$thenumber without float: ".number_format($thenumber, 2, '.', '').'<br>';

Results:

12 with float: 12.00
12 without float: 12.00
5.2 with float: 5.20
5.2 without float: 5.20

Easy answer.  Doesn't seem to matter.

Edited August 23, 2022 by ginerjm

[Barand]

(float) is casting $thenumber as a float.

But number_format() function definition (from the manual) is

number_format( float $num, int $decimals = 0, string|null $decimal_separator = ".", string|null $thousands_separator = ",") : string

therefore $thenumber is coerced to float type anyway. So, as demonstrated above, it makes no difference.