#25566 [Bgs]: Casting of strings to integers is flawed, no checking for non numeric chars.

ID: 25566 Updated by: rasmus@php.net Reported By: Jared dot Williams1 at ntlworld dot com Status: Bogus Bug Type: Scripting Engine problem PHP Version: 4.3.3 New Comment: No, but if you want them to be compared as strings, just cast to a string then, or use a strcmp() call. PHP can't read your mind. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-21 11:51:32] Jared dot Williams1 at ntlworld dot com I do understand that time has fixed this "feature". As for explicit casting, it does result in different behaviour, when comparing string/values. $x = '0xF'; $y = (int)$x; echo($x == 15 ? 'YES' : 'NO'); echo('<br />'); echo($y == 15 ? 'YES' : 'NO'); Outputs: YES NO Strict equivalence testing doesnt help when you wish "1234" and 1234 to be considered equal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-20 20:17:33] rasmus@php.net That's why you have the === operator. "12345aaaa" has always evaluated to 12345 when cast to an integer and it always will. That also means that it must be equivalent to 12345 when used in an integer comparison. You need to be explicit in your comparisons and use explicit casting elsewhere. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-20 19:29:23] Jared dot Williams1 at ntlworld dot com The documentation does not help. a string containing a beginning with a numeric character, but also containing non-numerics surely should not be cast to an integer before comparision? I understand that "12345" == 12345 but the string "12345xxx" isnt 12345. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-20 17:58:26] sniper@php.net See these manual pages: http://www.php.net/switch http://www.php.net/manual/en/types.comparisons.php Maybe the manual should explain this a bit better. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-20 06:20:46] Jared dot Williams1 at ntlworld dot com How's this for an impossibility.. echo('a' != 0 ? 'TRUE' : 'FALSE'); echo('<br />'); echo('a' ? 'TRUE' : 'FALSE'); Outputs: FALSE TRUE ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at http://bugs.php.net/25566 -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=25566&edit=1