How to cast variable to array

Question

I have a variable $v that can be either single string or array of strings
and I have a code:

$a = array();
if (is_array($v)) {
    $a = $v;
} else {
    $         


        

Answer 1

I would write your could snippet like this (short and you read it and know exactly what is happening):

$a = is_array($v) ? $v : array($v);

Answer 2

You can cast a variable to an array by using:

    $var = (array)$arr;