In PHP, what are the best practices for handling numeric values to avoid errors like "Invalid numeric literal"?

When handling numeric values in PHP, it is important to ensure that the values are properly formatted to avoid errors like "Invalid numeric literal." One common issue is when numeric values are treated as strings, leading to parsing errors. To avoid this, always make sure to explicitly cast or convert variables to the appropriate numeric type before performing any arithmetic operations.

// Example of casting a string to an integer before performing arithmetic operations
$numericString = "42";
$numericValue = (int)$numericString;

// Now $numericValue is an integer and can be used in calculations without causing errors
$result = $numericValue * 2;
echo $result;