PHP
Language Basics
PHP code starts with <?php
and ends with ?>
written to a .php file
<?php
// statements
?>
PHP code can be placed
anywhere in an HTML content
<?php // PHP can be placed here ?>
<html><head>
</head><body>
<?php // or here... ?>
</body></html>
<?php // or even here ?>
To put a string into the HTML
of a PHP-generated page,
use echo
(It’s like Java’s System.out.println)
echo “Printy”;
echo(“Printy”); // also valid
You can specify multiple items
to print by separating them
with commas
echo “First”, “second”, “third”;
Firstsecondthird
There is a shorter way to
echo a variable
<span><?php echo $name; ?></span>
// shorter
<span><?=$name?></span>
To check the type and content of
a variable, use the var_dump()
function
$a = 10;
var_dump($a);
// int(10)
We can easily put multiline strings
into your program with a heredoc
(here documents)
$html = <<< EndOfQuote
<html><head>
</head><body>
Hello World!
</body></html>
EndOfQuote;
The names of user-defined
classes and functions, as well as
built-in constructs and keywords
are case-insensitive
Thus, these three lines
are equivalent:
echo(“hello, world”);
ECHO(“hello, world”);
EcHo(“hello, world”);
Null keywords are also
case-insensitive
$val = null; // same
$val = Null; // same
$val = NULL; // same
Variables, on the other hand,
are case-sensitive.
That is, $name, $NAME, and $NaME
are three different variables
PHP uses semicolons
to separate statements
echo “Hello, world”;
myFunction(42, “O'Reilly”);
$a = 1;
$name = “Elphaba”;
$b = $a / 25.0;
if ($a == $b) {
echo “Rhyme? And Reason?”;
}
Whitespace doesn’t matter
in a PHP program
For example, this statement:
raisePrices($inventory, $inflation, $costOfLiving, $greed);
could just as well be written
with more whitespace:
raisePrices (
$inventory ,
$inflation ,
$costOfLiving ,
$greed
) ;
or with less whitespace:
raisePrices($inventory,$inflation,$costOfLiving,$greed);
PHP provides several ways
to include comments
within your code
(all of which are borrowed from existing languages
such as C, C++, and the Unix shell)
Shell-style comments:
# create an HTML form requesting
# that the user confirm the action
echo confirmationForm();
C++ comments:
// create an HTML form requesting
// that the user confirm the action
echo confirmationForm();
C comments:
/* create an HTML form requesting
that the user confirm the action */
echo confirmationForm();
Variable names always begin
with a dollar sign ($)
and are case-sensitive
Here are some
valid variable names:
$bill
$head_count
$MaximumForce
$I_HEART_PHP
$_underscore
$_int
Here are some illegal
variable names:
$not valid
$|
$3wa
You can replace a
variable’s value with
another of a different type
(known as type juggling)
$what = “Fred”;
$what = 35;
$what = array(“Fred”, 35);
You can reference the value
of a variable whose name
is stored in another variable
$foo = “bar”;
$$foo = “baz”; // $bar = “baz”
What variable contains 100?
$foo = ‘bar’;
$$foo = ‘world’;
$$$foo = 100;
Once set, the value of a
constant cannot change.
Only scalar values
(Booleans, integers, floats, and strings)
can be constants
Constants are set using
the define() function:
define(‘PUBLISHER’, “O’Reilly”);
echo PUBLISHER;
Update: PHP 7 allows us to
define array constants
define(‘NAME’, [‘One’, ‘Two’, ‘Three’]);
You cannot give a variable,
function, class, or constant
the same name as a keyword
__CLASS__ and endforeach
__DIR__ array() endif
__FILE__ as endswitch
__FUNCTION__ break endwhile
__LINE__ echo eval()
__METHOD__ else exit()
__NAMESPACE__ elseif extends
__TRAIT__ empty() final
__halt_compiler() enddeclare insteadof
abstract endfor interface
isset() require_once default
list() return die()
namespace callable do
new case for
or catch foreach
print class function
private clone global
protected const goto
public continue if
require declare implements
include var
include_once while
instanceof xor
static
switch
throw
trait
try
unset()
use
In PHP, arithmetic operators are
very similar to those in Java
$a = 10;
$b = 3;
var_dump($a + $b); // 13
var_dump($a - $b); // 7
var_dump($a * $b); // 30
var_dump($a / $b); // 3.333333...
var_dump($a % $b); // 1
var_dump($a ** $b); // 1000 (since PHP 5.6)
var_dump(-$a); // -10
Assignment operators are also
very similar
$a = 3 + 4 + 5 - 2;
$a = 13;
$a += 14;
$a -= 2;
$a *= 4;
But be careful!
$a = ‘1’;
$b = 2;
$c = $a + b;
$d = $a . $b;
There are also incrementing
and decrementing operators
$a++;
$b--;
Comparison operators are
similar, too
var_dump(2 < 3); // true
var_dump(3 < 3); // false
var_dump(3 <= 3); // true
var_dump(4 <= 3); // false
var_dump(2 > 3); // false
var_dump(3 >= 3); // true
var_dump(3 > 3); // false
And so are the logical
operators
var_dump(true && true);
var_dump(true && false);
var_dump(true || false);
var_dump(false || false);
var_dump(!false);
But there are the PHP 7’s new
“spaceship” operator
var_dump(1 <=> 5);
var_dump(1 <=> 1);
var_dump(5 <=> 2);
PHP 7 also introduces the new
null coalescing operator
$uname = isset($_GET[‘uname’]) ? $_GET[‘uname’] : ‘guest’;
var_dump($uname);
$uname = $_GET[‘uname’] ?? ‘guest’;
var_dump($uname);
$_GET[‘uname’] = ‘admin’;
$uname = $_GET[‘uname’] ?? ’guest’;
var_dump($uname);
When comparing values, we need
to be careful with type juggling
$a = 3;
$b = ‘3’;
$c = 5;
var_dump($a == $b);
var_dump($a === $b);
var_dump($a != $b);
var_dump($a !== $b);
var_dump($a == $c);
var_dump($a <> $c);
Strings are delimited
by either single
or double quotes
‘big dog’
“fat hog”
Variables are interpolated
within double quotes, while
within single quotes they are not
Interpolation is the process of
replacing variable names in the
string with the values
of those variables
$name = ‘Guido’;
echo “Hi, $name”;
echo ‘Hi, $name’;
Hi, Guido
Hi, $name
The other way is to surround
the variable being
interpolated with curly braces
$n = 12;
echo “You are the $nth person”;
echo “You are the {$n}th person”;
You are the 12th person
What’s the output?
$var = ‘world’;
$$var = 100;
echo ‘Hello $var<br>’;
echo “Hello $var<br>”;
echo ‘Hello $world<br>’;
echo “Hello $world<br>”;
Strings are like arrays, i.e.
each character has an index
$s = ‘Hello’;
echo $s[0]; // H
echo $s[-1]; // o
To test whether
two strings are equal,
use the == operator
if ($a == $b) {
echo “a and b are equal”
}
Use the is_string() function
to test whether
a value is a string
if (is_string($x)) {
// $x is a string
}
The strlen() function
gets the length of a string
$s = ‘FILKOM UB’;
echo strlen($s); // 9
The strtolower() function
converts all characters in
a string to lowercase
$s = ‘FILKOM UB’;
echo strtolower($s);
// filkom ub
The strtoupper() function
converts all characters in a
string to uppercase
$s = ‘filkom ub’;
echo strtoupper($s);
// FILKOM UB
The trim() function
removes all blank spaces
surrounding a string
$s = ‘ FILKOM UB ’;
echo trim($s);
// FILKOM UB
To concatenate a string,
use the dot operators
$s1 = ‘FILKOM ’;
$s2 = ‘UB’;
$s3 = $s1 . $s2;
// FILKOM UB
Use the is_bool() function to
test whether a value is a
Boolean or not
if (is_bool($x)) {
// $x is a Boolean
}
Use unset() to
remove a variable
$name = “Fred”;
unset($name);
echo $name; // throws a PHP notice
To see if a variable
has been set to something,
use isset()
$s1 = isset($name); // $s1 is false
$name = “Fred”;
$s2 = isset($name); // $s2 is true
In PHP, the following
values all evaluate to false:
• The keyword false
• The integer 0
• The floating-point value 0.0
• The empty string (“”) and the string “0”
• An array with zero elements
• An object with no values or functions
• The NULL value
$val = “”;
if ($val) {
// this won’t be executed
}
bye.
