granam/scalar

Lightweight scalar-type container

Wrapping object for scalar (or null) only

, _(*1)

First of all, isn't sufficient PHP native scalar type hinting for you? It is available since PHP 7.0., _(*2)

Sadly there is no native function able to cast or sanitize a value to scalar with warning on value lost., _(*3)

For that reason, if we want to be sure about scalar type, a scalar converter and optionally a type-checking class are the only chance., _(*4)

Warning: The converter and so the wrapper class do not cast null - null remains null., _(*5)

<?php
namespace Granam\Scalar;

use Granam\Scalar\Tools\ToScalar;

$scalar = new Scalar('foo');

// foo
echo $scalar;

$nullScalar = new Scalar(null);
// false
echo is_scalar($nullScalar->getValue());
// true
echo $nullScalar->getValue() === null;

// NULL
var_dump(ToScalar::toScalar(null));

try {
  ToScalar::toScalar(null, true /* explicitly strict */);
} catch (Tools\Exceptions\WrongParameterType $scalarException) {
  // Something get wrong: Expected scalar or object with __toString method on strict mode, got NULL.
  die('Something get wrong: ' . $scalarException->getMessage());
}

The evil null

Why the NULL remains NULL by default?, _(*6)

Because it does lesser harm. Forcing an unknown value to has a specific type causes loss of previous "I do not know what it is" information., _(*7)

If you needs scalar only, without NULL, you will have to do it by yourself by native PHP casting:, _(*8)

$variable = null;
$variable = (string)$variable;

So it is only up to you what type will the NULL become., _(*9)