PHP does not need (or support) explicit type definition in variable declaration; a variable's type is determined by the context in which the variable is used. That is to say, if a string value is assigned to variable $var, it becomes a string. If an integer value is assigned to $var, it becomes an integer.

Example: PHP's automatic type conversion is the multiplication operator '*'. If operand is a float, then both operands are evaluated as floats, and the result will be a float. Otherwise, the operands will be interpreted as integers, and the result will also be an integer. Note that this does not change the types of the operands itselfs; the only change is in how the operands are evaluated and what the type of the expression itself is.

<?php
$foo = "1"; // $foo is string (ASCII 49)
$foo *= 2; // $foo is now an integer (2)
$foo = $foo * 1.3; // $foo is now a float (2.6)
$foo = 5 * "20 Little Cats"; // $foo is integer (50)
$foo = 5 * "20 Small Cats"; // $foo is integer (50)
?>