Class attributes always set as strings? - php

Question

First time I noticed this today whilst using a PHP class static attribute $limit as a query limit parameter for a raw prepared statement as in
/**
* #var int
*/
private static $limit = 100;
// ....
$query = <<<EOT
SELECT id FROM table t WHERE t.id > 0 LIMIT ? EOT;
$recs = \DB::select($query, [self::$limit]);
So the above query throws an error which upon examination seemed to me to stem from the fact that the query builder took it for a string. If I change the select statement to be as follows it all runs as expected
$mcdrs = \DB::select($query, [(int)self::$limit]);
So, whilst this is not a problem per se, I am just curious as to whether is a known fact that class attributes in PHP are always set as strings.
I even changed the attribute declaration to
private static $limit = 99+1;
with the same results. Just to confirm, I performed the following "tests" and I can confirm that no matter what I do with the static var declaration they are all reported as strings. Haven't tried floating numbers though.
if (is_string(self::$limit)) {
die('string');
} elseif (is_int(self::$limit)) {
die('int');
} else {
die('something else...');
}
I can confirm that the variable is of type string.

Answer 1

I came up with this as a test and could not replicate your findings.
This is using PHP 7.3.19
/Class_test.php
class Class_test {
private static $limit = 100;
private static $string = '100';
public function index() {
$this->check_my_type(self::$limit);
$this->check_my_type(self::$string);
}
protected function check_my_type($value){
if (is_string($value)) {
echo('I am a string :'. $value);
echo '<br>';
}
if (is_int($value)) {
echo('I am an Integer :'.$value);
echo '<br>';
}
}
}
/index.php
<?php
// Enable FULL Error Reporting on the screen
// ONLY USE IN DEVELOPMENT
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
include_once('./Class_test.php');
$test = new Class_test();
$test->index();
Output is:
I am an Integer :100
I am a string :100
Do you get the same results or is there something you haven't told us that I am missing here.