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<title>Finds whether a variable is a scalar</title>
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<div class="refnamediv">
<h1 class="refname">is_scalar</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4 >= 4.0.5, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">is_scalar</span> — <span class="dc-title">
Finds whether a variable is a scalar
</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.is-scalar-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">bool</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>is_scalar</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <code class="parameter">$var</code></span>
)</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
Finds whether the given variable is a scalar.
</p>
<p class="para">
Scalar variables are those containing an <span class="type"><a href="language.types.integer.html" class="type integer">integer</a></span>,
<span class="type"><a href="language.types.float.html" class="type float">float</a></span>, <span class="type"><a href="language.types.string.html" class="type string">string</a></span> or <span class="type"><a href="language.types.boolean.html" class="type boolean">boolean</a></span>.
Types <span class="type"><a href="language.types.array.html" class="type array">array</a></span>, <span class="type"><a href="language.types.object.html" class="type object">object</a></span> and <span class="type"><a href="language.types.resource.html" class="type resource">resource</a></span>
are not scalar.
</p>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
<span class="function"><strong>is_scalar()</strong></span> does not consider <span class="type"><a href="language.types.resource.html" class="type resource">resource</a></span>
type values to be scalar as resources are abstract datatypes
which are currently based on integers. This implementation detail should
not be relied upon, as it may change.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
<span class="function"><strong>is_scalar()</strong></span> does not consider NULL to be scalar.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.is-scalar-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">var</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
The variable being evaluated.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.is-scalar-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns <strong><code>TRUE</code></strong> if <em><code class="parameter">var</code></em> is a scalar <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>
otherwise.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.is-scalar-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-5265">
<p><strong>Example #1 <span class="function"><strong>is_scalar()</strong></span> example</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">function </span><span style="color: #0000BB">show_var</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$var</span><span style="color: #007700">) <br />{<br /> if (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">is_scalar</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$var</span><span style="color: #007700">)) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$var</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> } else {<br /> </span><span style="color: #0000BB">var_dump</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$var</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /> }<br />}<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$pi </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">3.1416</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$proteins </span><span style="color: #007700">= array(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"hemoglobin"</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"cytochrome c oxidase"</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"ferredoxin"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">show_var</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$pi</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">show_var</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$proteins</span><span style="color: #007700">)<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
<div class="example-contents"><p>The above example will output:</p></div>
<div class="example-contents screen">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
3.1416
array(3) {
[0]=>
string(10) "hemoglobin"
[1]=>
string(20) "cytochrome c oxidase"
[2]=>
string(10) "ferredoxin"
}
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.is-scalar-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-float.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_float()</a> - Finds whether the type of a variable is float</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-int.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_int()</a> - Find whether the type of a variable is integer</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-numeric.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_numeric()</a> - Finds whether a variable is a number or a numeric string</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-real.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_real()</a> - Alias of is_float</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-string.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_string()</a> - Find whether the type of a variable is string</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-bool.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_bool()</a> - Finds out whether a variable is a boolean</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-object.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_object()</a> - Finds whether a variable is an object</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-array.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_array()</a> - Finds whether a variable is an array</span></li>
</ul>
</p>
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