mysql - PHP & Laravel: ConvertingVARCHAR value to FLOAT in query -

i have stored in table 2 fields lat , long, these columns have datatype of varchar

now in laravel have following variables:

$ne_lat = 21.405122657695813; $ne_lng = -102.32061363281252; $sw_lat = 19.984311565790197; $sw_lng = -104.19652916015627; 

wich want use in query compare against table data this:

$agencies = db::table('users')         ->whereraw('lat < ? , lat > ? , long < ? , long > ?',[$ne_lat,$sw_lat,$ne_lng,$sw_lng]) 

i've tried cast this:

$agencies = db::table('users')         ->whereraw('cast(lat float) < ? , cast(lat float) > ? , cast(long float) < ? , cast(long float) > ?',[$ne_lat,$sw_lat,$ne_lng,$sw_lng]) 

but doesn't display results (i'm not getting error messages since query shows in json) doesn't show up. doing wrong query?

thanks in advance

(int)(your value); 

or can use:

intval(string) 

here sample:

<?php echo intval(42);                      // 42 echo intval(4.2);                     // 4 echo intval('42');                    // 42 echo intval('+42');                   // 42 echo intval('-42');                   // -42 echo intval(042);                     // 34 echo intval('042');                   // 42 echo intval(1e10);                    // 1410065408 echo intval('1e10');                  // 1 echo intval(0x1a);                    // 26 echo intval(42000000);                // 42000000 echo intval(420000000000000000000);   // 0 echo intval('420000000000000000000'); // 2147483647 echo intval(42, 8);                   // 42 echo intval('42', 8);                 // 34 echo intval(array());                 // 0 echo intval(array('foo', 'bar'));     // 1 ?>