How to get the real type of a value inside string?

Question

I was searching here on StackOverflow about converting string to the real value and i didn't found. I need a function like "gettype" that does something like the result above, but i can't do it all :s

gettypefromstring("1.234"); //returns (doble)1,234;
gettypefromstring("1234"); //returns (int)1234;
gettypefromstring("a"); //returns (char)a;
gettypefromstring("true"); //returns (bool)true;
gettypefromstring("khtdf"); //returns (string)"khtdf";

Thanks to all :)

Answer 1

You must try to convert it in specified order:

1. Check is double
2. If double, this may be a integer, you must convert and compare this values.
3. If not, this is char if lenght is == 1.
4. If not, this is string.
5. If string, try parse to bool.

You can't use gettype because you may get string type of decimal writed in string.

Answer 2

Hi, 1+ for Svisstack! ;)

Here is the function if someone want it:

function gettype_fromstring($string){
    //  (c) José Moreira - Microdual (www.microdual.com)
    return gettype(getcorrectvariable($string));
}
function getcorrectvariable($string){
    //  (c) José Moreira - Microdual (www.microdual.com)
    //      With the help of Svisstack (http://stackoverflow.com/users/283564/svisstack)

    /* FUNCTION FLOW */
    // *1. Remove unused spaces
    // *2. Check if it is empty, if yes, return blank string
    // *3. Check if it is numeric
    // *4. If numeric, this may be a integer or double, must compare this values.
    // *5. If string, try parse to bool.
    // *6. If not, this is string.

    $string=trim($string);
    if(empty($string)) return "";
    if(!preg_match("/[^0-9.]+/",$string)){
        if(preg_match("/[.]+/",$string)){
            return (double)$string;
        }else{
            return (int)$string;
        }
    }
    if($string=="true") return true;
    if($string=="false") return false;
    return (string)$string;
}

I used this function to know if the number X is multiple of Y.

Example:

$number=6;
$multipleof=2;
if(gettype($number/$multipleof)=="integer") echo "The number ".$number." is multiple of ".$multipleoff.".";

But the framework that i work returns always the input vars as strings.