Numerical value from Simple HTML Dom Parser treated as text

Question

I am using the PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser to pull information from a webpage. One of the values that I retrieve is a number. Here's how I retrieve the value:

$num = $html->find('a[id=reviews_link] span');

Then if I want to print the number(s):

foreach($num as $val){
    echo $val;
}

This works properly and prints the correct number(s) from the original page. However, if I want to use the number in a logical statement, it does not work. So for example if there is a single number returned and its value is 20, when I do this:

foreach($num as $val){
    if($val > 15){
        echo $val." is greater than 15";
    }
}

The if statement is not triggered and nothing prints. The same happens if I add quotes around the variable ("$val"). I have also tried using various PHP functions like intval or float but that doesn't change anything.

How can I get this variable to be treated as a numerical value?

When I print_r($val) there is a super long simple_html_dom_node Object that prints, it appears to contain a bunch of arrays.

Answer 1

$val is actually a simple_html_dom_node object, and echo $val; only works as this class implements the magic __toString() method. This only works in certain situations though, but especially not in comparisons.

Here you need to refer to actual object properties, here probably

if ($val->outertext > 15)

or

if ($val->plaintext > 15)

See also the "Magic Attributes" tab under http://simplehtmldom.sourceforge.net/manual.htm#section_access