Let’s fix the “Unsupported Operand Types” error with this article. Bobcares, as a part of our Server Management Service offers solutions to every query that comes our way.

Unsupported Operand Types

When we use the operators on values that are not supported in PHP, we may see the “Unsupported Operand Type” error. For instance, we can use the operators, + and – with the int data type. However, when we try to combine values like array or string with an int, the error message will appear.

PHP versions 7 and lower will disregard the string and output the int value instead. However, PHP v8 is known to frequently cause this fatal error due to stricter operand execution.

How to fix it?

Verify if PHP supports the operands, or the values on either side of the operator, in order to fix this fatal error. Arithmetic operators that handle int and float types are +, -, *, and /. These operators do not allow us to add an array and an int or a string and a float.

We can use var_dump() to view the variable’s datatype if we’re not sure how to resolve this problem. For e.g., consider the following:

<?php

$arr = [

    "name" => "Apple",

    "cost" => 6,

];





var_dump($arr);

Now, using var_dump(), we get;

array(2) {

  ["name"]=>

  string(5) "Apple"

  ["cost"]=>

  int(6)

}

After finding that it’s an array, we can then perform addition to the number element, which is the cost element.

<?php

$arr = [

    "name" => "Apple",

    "cost" => 6,

];




// 👇 add to the cost element




$arr['cost'] += 10;





print $arr['cost']; // 16

We must use operand types that PHP supports while writing code. It is important to pay attention to the variables used as operands when we get the notice “Fatal Error: Unsupported operand types.” These are the variables that are either on the operator symbol’s left or right side. The var_dump() function can be used to obtain information about them.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, to resolve the error, modify the code in accordance with the operand types that we now know. This is the correct way to address the PHP Fatal Error: Unsupported operand types.