CodeIgniter returns all fields as strings

A proper way to solve this issue is to set mysqli option in the Codeigniter driver.The below method is for who using mysqli as database driver.

Method 1:
Enable mysqlnd driver in your php extention. This will mostly solve your problem. If this not, then try method 2

Method 2 (May not work in all systems):

1. Open mysqli_driver.php file from system > database > drivers > mysqli_driver.php
2. Add below line to the code

Code:

public function db_connect($persistent = FALSE)    ...    $this->_mysqli->options(MYSQLI_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT, 10); // already exits    $this->_mysqli->options(MYSQLI_OPT_INT_AND_FLOAT_NATIVE,TRUE); // add this line    ...

After the code change, you get response like below

array (size=16)    'auth_id' => int 1                'role' => string 'admin' (length=5)    'permissions' => string 'all' (length=3)           'login_attempt' => int 0    'active' => int 1            'mobile_verified' => int 1

This can be achieved using PDO driver. Then setting PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES to false. This can be done in database.php. I believe using options array is undocumented feature.

Change application/config/database.php to use PDO and add PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES to options:

    $db['default'] = array(        'dsn'   => 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname={{my_db}};charset=utf8;',        'username' => 'my_db_user',        'password' => '123',        'database' => 'my_db',        'dbdriver' => 'pdo',        'options' => [            PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES => false,        ],        ...    );

Now you should have all the data returned from the DB with correct types.

If you don't want to change your system driver you can change your application/Core/MY_Controller.php.

Mixing Kalaivanan and Firze answers but using mysqli, not PDO.

Note: Decimals are still converted to string in pdo and also in mysqli, so use Double instead.

Create/change application/Core/MY_Controller.php as follows:

class MY_Controller extends CI_Controller{     public function __construct()    {        parent::__construct();                $this->db->conn_id->options(MYSQLI_OPT_INT_AND_FLOAT_NATIVE, true);    }}

WARNING: If you use BIT columns they won't work, they will always return zeros. Because a bug on driver. See: mysqlnd with MYSQLI_OPT_INT_AND_FLOAT_NATIVE fails to interpret bit columns.