Solution:
In PHP, (string)$var and strval($var) are generally interchangeable because PHP automatically converts variable types depending on context.
Key Differences:
strval($var)
Returns the string value of $var.
Accepts any scalar type (int, float, bool) or an object implementing __toString().
Cannot be used on arrays or objects without __toString().
(string)$var
Explicitly casts the variable to a string during evaluation.
Generally faster than strval() because it’s a language construct, not a function.
✅ Example:
$number = 123;
echo strval($number); // "123"
echo (string)$number; // "123"