# PHP Data types

Like most programming languages, PHP will work with many different types of data, known as data types. PHP data types includes the following:

• Boolean
• Integer
• Float
• String
• Array
• Object
• NULL
• resource

For now, we will just focus on the first four (Boolean, Integer, Float, String), which are known as Scalar types.

# Booleans

Booleans are the simpliest type and expresses a truth value, either true or false.

  $bool = true;

# Integers

An integer is any whole number, either positive or negative. To set a variable to a number, provide the number literal with no quotes.

<?php
  // setting variables to numbers
  $var1 = 3;
  $var2 = 4;
?>

# Floats

Floating point numbers or floats for short, are any number with a decimal in them. To set a variable to a floating point number, simply provide a number literal that contains a decimal.

<?php 
  // setting a variable to a float
  $float = 3.14;
?>

# Strings

A string is a series of characters, surrounded by quotes or special syntax. A string can be created using single quotes or double quotes.

Strings can be used with echo statements to display the strings in the browser.

<?php 
  // echo a string with double quotes
  echo "Hello World <br>";
  
  // echo a string with single quotes
  echo 'Hello World <br>';