How to cast variable to array

How to cast variable to array

I have a variable $v that can be either single string or array of strings

and I have a code:




$a = array();

if(is_array($v)){

    $a = $v;

}else{

    $a[] = $v;

}

How it can be done in more elegant way? (in other words, how to cast a variable to array)

Source: Tips4all, CCNA FINAL EXAM

Comments

UserMay 15, 2012 at 9:32 AM
You can cast a variable to an array in this sense (albeit there is no need to in PHP.)

$var = (array)$arr;

Additionally, while you can do the above to set the variable $arr into $var and force it to be an array, there is little to no point in doing such. In PHP, most things we may call "data types" as programmers are simply non-existent. Any variable can be a double, float, string... anything all at once. They are almost completely inter-changeable.

See: http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.php
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UserMay 15, 2012 at 9:32 AM
$a = (array) $a;

is the answer.
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UserMay 15, 2012 at 9:32 AM
Alternatively you could use settype:

settype($a, "array");

For expliciting the variable type. It's exactly the same as what happens with a typecast behind the scenes. (More useful for group-wise typecasting e.g. in loops.)
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UserMay 15, 2012 at 9:32 AM
I would write your could snippet like this (short and you read it and know exactly what is happening):

$a = is_array($v) ? $v : array($v);
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