Difference between float and double in php?

Question

I have this code

$vad = 1.1;

print gettype($vad);

var_dump($vad);

this will output:

double
float(1.1) 

So it is double or float in php?

Answer 1

There is no difference in PHP. 'float', 'double' or 'real' are the same datatype.

At the C level, everything is stored as a double.
The real size is still platform-dependant.

See the manual for more details:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.float.php

Answer 2

For PHP, they are the same. http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.float.php :

Floating point numbers (also known as "floats", "doubles", or "real numbers") can be specified using any of the following syntaxes: [...]

The confusing part is why gettype (which you shouldn't use, anyway) returns "double" instead of "float". The answer is http://de2.php.net/manual/en/function.gettype.php:

" double " (for historical reasons "double" is returned in case of a float , and not simply "float")

Answer 3

True Answer: http://docs.sun.com/source/806-3568/ncg_goldberg.html

Short Answer: its all about the precision.