Last Updated : 16 Jan 2026

This PHP data types chapter is a fundamental concept of how to define variables and store and manipulate data. Variables hold different types of data or values. PHP is known as a loosely typed programming language, meaning do not need to specify the data type to declare a variable. PHP supports 8 primitive data types that can be categorized further in 3 types:

1. Scalar Types (predefined)
2. Compound Types (user-defined)
3. Special Types (unique types)

Data Types Example

Here is a simple data type example that will help you in getting the data type of any object using the var_dump() function.

Output:

Float(10)

The table given below describes all the data types in details

Scalar Types

PHP Boolean

Booleans are the simplest data type works like switch. It holds only two values: TRUE (1) or FALSE (0). It is often used with conditional statements. If the condition is correct, it returns TRUE otherwise FALSE.

Output:

This condition is TRUE.

PHP Integer

Integer means numeric data with a negative or positive sign. It holds only whole numbers, i.e., numbers without fractional part or decimal points.

Rules for integer:

• An integer can be either positive or negative.
• An integer must not contain decimal point.
• Integer can be decimal (base 10), octal (base 8), or hexadecimal (base 16).
• The range of an integer must be lie between 2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647 i.e., -2^31 to 2^31.

Output:

Decimal number: 34
Octal number: 163
HexaDecimal number: 69

PHP Float

A floating-point number is a number with a decimal point. Unlike integer, it can hold numbers with a fractional or decimal point, including a negative or positive sign.

Output:

Addition of floating numbers: 73.812

PHP String

A string is a non-numeric data type. It holds letters or any alphabets, numbers, and even special characters.

String values must be enclosed either within single quotes or in double quotes. But both are treated differently. To clarify this, see the example below:

Output:

Hello Tpointtech
Hello $company

Compound Types

PHP Array

An array is a compound data type. It can store multiple values of same data type in a single variable. Here is given an example:

Output:

array(3) { [0]=> string(13) "Royal Enfield" [1]=> string(6) "Yamaha" [2]=> string(3) "KTM" }
Array Element1: Royal Enfield
Array Element2: Yamaha
Array Element3: KTM

You will learn more about array in later chapters of this tutorial.

PHP object

Objects are the instances of user-defined classes that can store both values and functions. They must be explicitly declared.

Output:

Bike Model: Royal Enfield

This is an advanced topic of PHP, which we will discuss later in detail.

Special Types

PHP Resource

Resources are not the exact data type in PHP. Basically, these are used to store some function calls or references to external PHP resources. For example - a database call. It is an external resource.

This is an advanced topic of PHP, so we will discuss it later in detail with examples.

PHP Null

Null is a special data type that has only one value: NULL. There is a convention of writing it in capital letters as it is case sensitive.

The special type of data type NULL defined a variable with no value.