Built In Types: Float

The floating-point type, float, allows the use of real numbers. It supports at least the range and precision of IEEE 754 64-bit double-precision representation, and includes the special values minus infinity, plus infinity, and Not-a-Number (NaN). Using predefined constant names, those values are written as -INF, INF, and NAN, respectively.

The library functions is_finite, is_infinite, and is_nan indicate if a given floating-point value is finite, infinite, or a NaN, respectively.

Consider the following example:

function average_float(float $p1, float $p2): float {
  return ($p1 + $p2) / 2.0;
}

<<__EntryPoint>>
function main(): void {
  $val = 3e6;
  $result = average_float($val, 5.2E-2);
  echo "\$result is ".$result."\n";
}

When called, function average_float takes two arguments, of type float, and returns a value of type float.

The literals 2.0, 3e6, and 5.2E-2 have type float, so the local variable $val is inferred as having type float. (Unlike function parameters such as $p1 and $p2, or a function return, a local variable cannot have an explicit type.) Then when $val and 5.2E-2 are passed to average_float, the compiler sees that two floats were passed and two floats were expected, so the call is well-formed.