Now that you know how to perform type checking for integer numbers, let's move on to float numbers.

Float numbers, or just "floats", are numbers with a decimal part, like 12.109

And, here is some good news: to perform a float type check, you can use the same filter_var() function you already used for integer numbers.

You just need to use a different filter flag: FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT.

Let's see how it's done.

Float type checking with filter_var()

You can use filter_var() for float numbers type checking just like you did for integer numbers.

The only difference is that you need to use the FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT flag, which makes filter_var() validate floats.

When using the FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT flag, filter_var() returns:

• FALSE, if the variable is not a valid float
• the value as a PHP float, if it's valid

filter_var() works with both PHP string and number types. For example:

The output from the previous code snippet is:

So:

The "not a float" string makes filter_var() return false: bool(false)

All the other elements are valid floats, so filter_var() returns their value as a PHP float: float(123), float(-0.342), and so on.

Note: valid integers, like 123, are also valid floats.

A note about float notation

In PHP, floats can also be written using the exponential notation (or scientific notation).

For example, the number 123.456 can also be written as 0.123456e3

Also, when a float number starts with 0, the 0 can be omitted: 0.123 => .123

float_var() accepts all these cases:

This is usually not a problem, but in some cases you may want to keep the variable in the standard float notation, especially if you are using it as a string.

If you want to be sure that the standard notation is used, you can cast the variable into a PHP float and then back into a string again:

Float type checking with is_numeric()

Another PHP native function you can use to check float variables is is_numeric().

is_numeric() performs exactly the same checks filter_var() does (with the FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT flag).

The same float values accepted by filter_var() are accepted by is_numeric() too.

is_numeric() is different from filter_var() because:

• is_numeric() only takes a single argument: the variable to check
• is_numeric() simply returns true or false

Since is_numeric() always returns a Boolean value, it's not necessary to use strict comparison on its return value.

Here's an example that shows the difference between the two functions:

Both filter_var() with the FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT flag and is_numeric() work fine for float type checking.

is_numeric() has an easier syntax and you don't need to use strict comparison on the result, so it's probably the easiest to use, but you can choose the one you prefer.

Lesson takeaways

• You can perform type checking on float numbers with filter_var(), using the FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT flag.
• You can also use is_numeric(). filter_var() and is_numeric() perform the same checks.
• Scientific notation floats are also accepted by both functions. If you need the variable in the standard notation, convert it into a float and then into a string again.