You can look at it like this.

If a variable was a room where a party was going on, the equal is the door, and the (int) typecast would be the guard at the door. ($room = (guard) $partygoer) He does not change the type of room it is or the people inside it, all he does is only let people with money go in. Same thing goes with that command, $var = (int) value; does not modify the variable, it filters what goes in.

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