Check if variable is an array in PHP

In this tutorial, we are going to learn about how to check if a variable is array in PHP with the help of examples.

Consider, that we have the following variable in our code:

$nums = array(1, 2, 3);

Now, we need to check whether the above variable is a Array or not.

Using is_array() function

To check if a variable is a array or not, we can use the built-in is_array() function in PHP.

The is_array() function takes the variable as an argument and returns True if a variable is a array, otherwise it’s returns False.

Here is an example:

$nums = array(1, 2, 3);

if(is_array($nums)) {
    echo "Variable is Array";
} else {
    echo "Variable is not an Array";
}

Output:

"Variable is Array"

In the above code,

1. We have first initialized the variable with a array.

2. Then we used the is_array() function in if condition to check if the variable is a array or not.

If it returns True then it prints the variable is Array, if the variable is not a array then it returns False and prints Variable is not an Array.

Another example: False

$age = 12;

if(is_array($age)) {
    echo "Variable is Array";
} else {
    echo "Variable is not an Array";
}

Output:

'Variable is not an Array'