What best practices should be followed when using the identity operator === in PHP?

When using the identity operator === in PHP, it is important to ensure that both the value and data type of the variables being compared are identical. This operator checks for both value and type equality, unlike the == operator which only checks for value equality. To follow best practices, always use === when comparing variables to avoid unexpected type coercion and ensure accurate comparisons. 

$var1 = 5;
$var2 = '5';

// Incorrect comparison using ==
if ($var1 == $var2) {
    echo 'Equal';
} else {
    echo 'Not Equal';
}

// Correct comparison using ===
if ($var1 === $var2) {
    echo 'Equal';
} else {
    echo 'Not Equal';
}

Keywords

identity operator strict comparison type coercion data types PHP programming

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