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) 

Answer 1

As of PHP 7.0.6 on Windows, comparing this command without xdebug:

$ php -r 'var_dump(28.4);'
float(28.4)

and with xdebug:

$ php -r 'var_dump(28.4);'
Command line code:1:
double(28.4)

Note that this only changes var_dump() output, but not the actual memory management.

This may address some concerns why you see double instead of float shown in var_dump in some other machines.

Also, with or without xdebug, gettype still returns string(6) "double".