Why Does PDO Return Numeric MySQL Values as Strings, and How Can I Fix It?

Numeric Types in MySQL with PDO: Avoiding Strings

Often when working with databases, we encounter the issue of retrieving numeric values as strings instead of the expected numeric data type. This can be a common occurrence when using PDO (PHP Data Objects) with MySQL.

PDO offers an attribute called PDO::ATTR_STRINGIFY_FETCHES that is designed to handle this conversion, but it is not applicable to the MySQL driver. This leaves us wondering why PDO is returning strings for numeric values in MySQL.

The answer lies in the emulation settings of PDO. By default, PDO emulates prepared statements for compatibility with older drivers. However, this emulation can cause numeric values to be returned as strings.

To avoid this, we need to disable the emulation by setting PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES to false:

$pdo = new PDO($dsn, $user, $pass, [
    PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES => false
]);

With emulation disabled, MySQL will return native data types for prepared statements, ensuring that numeric values are retrieved as numeric data without any string conversion.

It's important to note that it's generally good practice to use prepared statements when working with databases to prevent SQL injection vulnerabilities and improve performance.

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