-$a Negative Number Conversion When using the - operator in front of a variable, that variable will be cast to a number and it's sign will be inverted. Tags -$a convert invert Related $a - $b +$a $a = '1'; $a = -$a; // -1 $b = '1.2'; $b = -$b; // -1.2 $c = -4; $c = -$c; // 4 1.0+