laravel/framework · error · InvalidArgumentException

Cache value for key [%s] must be a float, %s given.

Error message

Cache value for key [%s] must be a float, %s given.

What it means

Thrown by Cache\Repository::float() when the stored value is not a float and cannot be coerced via filter_var(FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT). Genuine ints are NOT auto-promoted by is_float() and filter_var on an int returns the int which is !== false, so ints are accepted; the error fires for arrays, bools, non-numeric strings, or null.

Source

Thrown at src/Illuminate/Cache/Repository.php:307

     * @param  (\Closure():(float|null))|float|null  $default
     *
     * @throws \InvalidArgumentException
     */
    public function float($key, $default = null): float
    {
        $key = enum_value($key);

        $value = $this->get($key, $default);

        if (is_float($value)) {
            return $value;
        }

        if (filter_var($value, FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT) !== false) {
            return (float) $value;
        }

        throw new InvalidArgumentException(
            sprintf('Cache value for key [%s] must be a float, %s given.', $key, gettype($value))
        );
    }

    /**
     * Retrieve a boolean item from the cache.
     *
     * @param  \UnitEnum|string  $key
     * @param  (\Closure():(bool|null))|bool|null  $default
     *
     * @throws \InvalidArgumentException
     */
    public function boolean($key, $default = null): bool
    {
        $key = enum_value($key);

        $value = $this->get($key, $default);

View on GitHub (pinned to bd6b5437e6)

Solutions

  1. Pass a float default: Cache::float('rate', 0.0).
  2. Sanitize the writer: store the raw numeric value, Cache::put('rate', (float) $value).
  3. Strip non-numeric characters before storing if the source is a formatted string.
  4. Cache::forget('rate') to clear a malformed entry.

Example fix

// before
$rate = Cache::float('conversion.rate');

// after
$rate = Cache::float('conversion.rate', 0.0);
Cache::put('conversion.rate', (float) $raw, $ttl);
Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

$value = Cache::get('rate');
if (! is_float($value) && filter_var($value, FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT) === false) {
    $value = 0.0;
}

Type guard

function isCachedFloat(string $key): bool {
    $v = Cache::get($key);
    return is_float($v) || filter_var($v, FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT) !== false;
}

Try / catch

try {
    $rate = Cache::float('rate', 0.0);
} catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
    $rate = 0.0;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Cache::float('rate') when the stored value is an array, bool, the string 'n/a', or null because the key is absent and no float default was supplied.

Common situations: Caching a rate as a formatted string '3.14%' (the % breaks FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT) and reading with float(); missing key without default; storing an array of metrics under a scalar key.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of laravel/framework@bd6b5437e6 (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /data/errors/abfe78749c398e91.json. Report an issue: GitHub.