How does PHP handle explicit type casting, such as (int), in comparison to implicit type conversion when dealing with string representations of numerical values?

When dealing with explicit type casting in PHP, such as using (int) to convert a string to an integer, the conversion is done directly and explicitly by the programmer. This allows for precise control over the data type conversion. On the other hand, implicit type conversion occurs automatically by PHP when necessary, such as when performing operations between different data types.

// Explicit type casting using (int) to convert a string to an integer
$stringNumber = "123";
$intNumber = (int)$stringNumber;
echo $intNumber; // Output: 123