Weird preg_match error

Question

I have a very weird error from preg_match command.

If I set the $test as (for example) $test = 'XtzTy'; it's working perfectly.

BUT

since $test is not static it's not working even if the value IS XtzTy

So I thought to convert it to string so I was using

$test= settype($test, 'string');

but it still NOT working !!!

This is my EXTREMELY SIMPLE preg_match compare tool :

if (preg_match('~(XtzTy|bb9c3)~',$test)) {
    echo 'String Found!';
}

If both of them is STRING and the value of $test is XtzTy AND converted to string why it's not working ?

Answer 1

Convert $test in string like this:

$str_test = (string) $test;

OR Use only this regex

(XtzTy|bb9c3) without ~

OR

/(XtzTy|bb9c3)/