is_scalar

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.5)

is_scalar --  Finds whether a variable is a scalar

Description

bool is_scalar (mixed var)

is_scalar() returns TRUE if the variable given by the var parameter is a scalar, otherwise it returns FALSE.

Scalar variables are those containing an integer, float, string or boolean. For example:


function show_var($var) {
    if (is_scalar($var))
        echo $var;
    else
        var_dump($var);
}

$pi = 3.1416;
$proteins = array("hemoglobin", "cytochrome c oxidase", "ferredoxin");

show_var($pi);
// prints: 3.1416

show_var($proteins)
// prints:
// array(3) {
//   [0]=>
//   string(10) "hemoglobin"
//   [1]=>
//   string(20) "cytochrome c oxidase"
//   [2]=>
//   string(10) "ferredoxin"
// }
      

Note: is_scalar() does not consider resource type values to be scalar values. This behavior is intentional: Resources are abstract datatypes which are currently based on integers. This implementation detail should not be relied upon, as it may change.

Note: Since 4.0.5

See also is_bool(), is_double(), is_numeric(), is_float(), is_int(), is_real(), is_string(), is_object(), is_array(), and is_integer().