What are the differences in number formatting when using strings versus integers in PHP?

When using strings in PHP for number formatting, you have more control over the formatting options such as adding commas or decimal points. Integers, on the other hand, do not have built-in formatting options and will simply output the number as is. To format numbers as strings, you can use functions like number_format() or sprintf().

// Using number_format() function to format a number as a string with commas
$number = 1000000;
$formatted_number = number_format($number);

echo $formatted_number; // Output: 1,000,000