Can a value from $_POST *not* be a string?

Question

In PHP, can a value from the global $_POST array be something else than an array or a string?

The goal is to not have to check if everything is something else than an array or string in a script. If I know what type a variable has, I don't have to do some weird validation. If I expect a string, I don't have to cast everything to a string to make sure it is one.

Answer 1

$_POST["key"] = true;

var_dump($_POST["key"]); // bool(true)

The values set by the environment are strings though.

Answer 2

As per the documentation http://php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.post.php

An associative array of variables passed to the current script via the HTTP POST method. 

So all the data sent is in associative array, in key value pair. There are Numbers (int, float etc), Strings, Arrays (of numbers or strings) and Objects data types.

Using the rule of elimination we can remove the Object from the supported data type, and the remaining left are strings, numbers and array.

Now, if you see the form, the input fields are taking strings, there is no indication that the value entered in the input field is number or string. So to be on safe side all the values which are posted are in strings. The array of elements also have the string values.

When you get the value in $_POST it is simply an array and you can override it any time

$_POST['username'] = 1;
var_dump($_POST['username']); // int (1)

I hope this make some sense

Answer 3

You can cast it to whatever you wish ^^

intval($_POST['INTEGER']);
or simply
 (int)$_POST['int']