What are some common debugging techniques for resolving issues with subtraction operations in PHP involving VARCHAR and INT values?

When performing subtraction operations in PHP involving VARCHAR and INT values, the issue often arises due to PHP's loose type comparison rules. To resolve this, you can explicitly cast the VARCHAR value to an INT before performing the subtraction operation. This ensures that both operands are of the same data type, preventing unexpected results.

// Example of resolving subtraction issues with VARCHAR and INT values
$varcharValue = "10";
$intValue = 5;

// Explicitly cast the VARCHAR value to an INT before subtraction
$result = (int)$varcharValue - $intValue;

echo $result; // Output: 5