Exchanging unique strings to integers - php

Question

Ok, so the issue I am having is I am returning the count of the number of l's and d's from a database as a string, but I need it to be an integer. I tried to cast it as an int after but when i do it just returns each number as 0. I know it is returning a string, and when I echo $count1 (which is the string) it returns the actual number just find, but when I cast it, it doesn't work.
By the way there is a ton of entries and each one is unique, so the basic rundown is like
12
10
9
when I return it as a string but when I return it as an int it is
0
0
0
$db_name = '';
$db_user = '';
$db_pass = '';
$db_host = '';
try{
// database connection
$db = new PDO("mysql:host=$db_host;dbname=$db_name",$db_user,$db_pass);
}
catch(PDOException $pe)
{
die('Connection error, because: ' .$pe->getMessage());
}
$table = 'ratings';
$con = 'data';
$id = (empty($_GET['id'])) ? : $_GET['id'] ;
$sql5 = $db->prepare("SELECT COUNT(rating) FROM $table WHERE id='$id' AND rating = 'l'");
$sql5->execute();
$count = $sql5->fetchColumn();
$sql = $db->prepare("SELECT COUNT(rating) FROM $table WHERE id='$id' AND rating = 'd'");
$sql->execute();
$count1 = $sql->fetchColumn();
$plsWerk = (int)$count1;
var_dump($plsWerk);
var_dump($count1);
$qq = "SELECT * FROM $con";
$stmt1 = $db->prepare($qq);
$stmt1->execute();
$rr = $stmt1->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
$ip = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"];
echo $count1;
I am not currently echoing plswerk but that is what I want to replace count1.
Thanks!

Answer 1

You should try $foo = intval('33'); rather than $foo = (int)('33');
So:
$plsWerk = intval($count1);