title: How to persist .00 with float?
body: <p>I'm trying to convert a value from mysql to a float type.</p>
  
  <p>I have a table with a decimal type column. </p>
  
  <p>When I query the value from the table, the values are returned as string (expected in php).</p>
  
  <p>When I convert a value with <strong>floatval($value)</strong>, it turns the value into float type in php.</p>
  
  <p>The problem is that <strong>floatval</strong> drops .00 if I pass 33.00 as its parameter.</p>
  
  <p>I do know that I can use number_format(), but that converts the value back to the string again.</p>
  
  <p>How do I convert a string "33.00" into a float type in PHP?</p>