PHP Module
Uploaded by
Jan Mark Sacedon GuibonePHP Module
Uploaded by
Jan Mark Sacedon GuibonePHP
Basic
PHP Intro 2
PHP Install 3
PHP Syntax 3
PHP Variables 4
PHP String 5
PHP Operators 7
PHP If...Else 8
PHP Switch 10
PHP Arrays 11
PHP While Loops 13
PHP For Loops 15
PHP Functions 16
PHP Forms 19
PHP $_GET 20
PHP $_POST 21
WEB PROGRAMMING 1
PHP Introduction What is MySQL?
MySQL is a database server
MySQL is ideal for both small and large applications
PHP is a server-side scripting language. MySQL supports standard SQL
MySQL compiles on a number of platforms
MySQL is free to download and use
What You Should Already Know PHP + MySQL
Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following: PHP combined with MySQL are cross-platform (you can develop in
Windows and serve on a Unix platform)
HTML/XHTML
JavaScript Why PHP?
If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorials on our Home page.
PHP runs on different platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.)
PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)
PHP is FREE to download from the official PHP resource: www.php.net
PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side
What is PHP?
PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
Where to Start?
PHP is a server-side scripting language, like ASP
PHP scripts are executed on the server To get access to a web server with PHP support, you can:
PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid,
PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.) Install Apache (or IIS) on your own server, install PHP, and MySQL
PHP is an open source software Or find a web hosting plan with PHP and MySQL support
PHP is free to download and use
What is a PHP File?
PHP files can contain text, HTML tags and scripts
PHP files are returned to the browser as plain HTML
PHP files have a file extension of ".php", ".php3", or ".phtml"
WEB PROGRAMMING 2
PHP Syntax
PHP Installation
PHP code is executed on the server, and the plain HTML result is sent
to the browser.
What do you Need?
If your server supports PHP you don't need to do anything.
Basic PHP Syntax
Just create some .php files in your web directory, and the server will parse them
for you. Because it is free, most web hosts offer PHP support. A PHP scripting block always starts with <?php and ends with ?>. A PHP
scripting block can be placed anywhere in the document.
However, if your server does not support PHP, you must install PHP.
On servers with shorthand support enabled you can start a scripting block with
Here is a link to a good tutorial from PHP.net on how to install <? and end with ?>.
PHP5:http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.php
For maximum compatibility, we recommend that you use the standard form (<?
Download PHP php) rather than the shorthand form.
Download PHP for free here: http://www.php.net/downloads.php <?php
?>
Download MySQL Database
A PHP file normally contains HTML tags, just like an HTML file, and some PHP
scripting code.
Download MySQL for free here: http://www.mysql.com/downloads/
Below, we have an example of a simple PHP script which sends the text "Hello
Download Apache Server World" to the browser:
Download Apache for free here: http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi <html>
<body>
<?php
echo "Hello World";
WEB PROGRAMMING 3
?>
</body>
</html>
PHP Variables
Each code line in PHP must end with a semicolon. The semicolon is a separator
and is used to distinguish one set of instructions from another.
A variable is used to store information.
There are two basic statements to output text with PHP: echo and print. In the
example above we have used the echo statement to output the text "Hello
World".
Note: The file must have a .php extension. If the file has a .html extension, the
Variables in PHP
PHP code will not be executed.
Variables are used for storing values, like text strings, numbers or arrays.
When a variable is declared, it can be used over and over again in your script.
Comments in PHP All variables in PHP start with a $ sign symbol.
In PHP, we use // to make a single-line comment or /* and */ to make a large
The correct way of declaring a variable in PHP:
comment block.
$var_name = value;
<html>
<body>
New PHP programmers often forget the $ sign at the beginning of the variable. In
<?php that case it will not work.
//This is a comment
Let's try creating a variable containing a string, and a variable containing a
/* number:
This is
a comment
<?php
block
$txt="Hello World!";
*/
$x=16;
?>
?>
</body>
</html>
PHP is a Loosely Typed Language
WEB PROGRAMMING 4
In PHP, a variable does not need to be declared before adding a value to it.
In the example above, you see that you do not have to tell PHP which data type
the variable is.
PHP String Variables
PHP automatically converts the variable to the correct data type, depending on its
value.
In a strongly typed programming language, you have to declare (define) the type A string variable is used to store and manipulate text.
and name of the variable before using it.
In PHP, the variable is declared automatically when you use it.
String Variables in PHP
String variables are used for values that contains characters.
Naming Rules for Variables
In this chapter we are going to look at the most common functions and operators
A variable name must start with a letter or an underscore "_" used to manipulate strings in PHP.
A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters and
underscores (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and _ ) After we create a string we can manipulate it. A string can be used directly in a
A variable name should not contain spaces. If a variable name is more function or it can be stored in a variable.
than one word, it should be separated with an underscore ($my_string),
or with capitalization ($myString) Below, the PHP script assigns the text "Hello World" to a string variable called
$txt:
<?php
$txt="Hello World";
echo $txt;
?>
The output of the code above will be:
Hello World
Now, lets try to use some different functions and operators to manipulate the
string.
WEB PROGRAMMING 5
The Concatenation Operator The length of a string is often used in loops or other functions, when it is
important to know when the string ends. (i.e. in a loop, we would want to stop
the loop after the last character in the string).
There is only one string operator in PHP.
The concatenation operator (.) is used to put two string values together.
To concatenate two string variables together, use the concatenation operator:
The strpos() function
The strpos() function is used to search for character within a string.
<?php
$txt1="Hello World!"; If a match is found, this function will return the position of the first match. If no
$txt2="What a nice day!"; match is found, it will return FALSE.
echo $txt1 . " " . $txt2;
?>
Let's see if we can find the string "world" in our string:
The output of the code above will be: <?php
echo strpos("Hello world!","world");
Hello World! What a nice day! ?>
If we look at the code above you see that we used the concatenation operator The output of the code above will be:
two times. This is because we had to insert a third string (a space character), to
separate the two strings. 6
The position of the string "world" in our string is position 6. The reason that it is 6
(and not 7), is that the first position in the string is 0, and not 1.
The strlen() function
The strlen() function is used to return the length of a string.
Let's find the length of a string:
Complete PHP String Reference
For a complete reference of all string functions, go to our complete PHP String
<?php Reference.
echo strlen("Hello world!");
?>
The reference contains a brief description, and examples of use, for each
function!
The output of the code above will be:
12
WEB PROGRAMMING 6
PHP Operators += x+=y x=x+y
-= x-=y x=x-y
*= x*=y x=x*y
/= x/=y x=x/y
Operators are used to operate on values.
.= x.=y x=x.y
%= x%=y x=x%y
PHP Operators Comparison Operators
This section lists the different operators used in PHP.
Operator Description Example
Arithmetic Operators == is equal to 5==8 returns false
!= is not equal 5!=8 returns true
Operator Description Example Result
<> is not equal 5<>8 returns true
+ Addition x=2 4
> is greater than 5>8 returns false
x+2
< is less than 5<8 returns true
- Subtraction x=2 3
5-x >= is greater than or equal to 5>=8 returns false
* Multiplication x=4 20 <= is less than or equal to 5<=8 returns true
x*5
/ Division 15/5 3 Logical Operators
5/2 2.5
% Modulus (division remainder) 5%2 1 Operator Description Example
10%8 2 && and x=6
10%2 0 y=3
++ Increment x=5 x=6
x++ (x < 10 && y > 1) returns true
-- Decrement x=5 x=4 || or x=6
x-- y=3
Assignment Operators (x==5 || y==5) returns false
! not x=6
Operator Example Is The Same As y=3
= x=y x=y
!(x==y) returns true
WEB PROGRAMMING 7
PHP If...Else Statements <html>
<body>
<?php
$d=date("D");
Conditional statements are used to perform different actions based on if ($d=="Fri") echo "Have a nice weekend!";
different conditions. ?>
</body>
</html>
Conditional Statements
Notice that there is no ..else.. in this syntax. The code is executed only if the
Very often when you write code, you want to perform different actions for specified condition is true.
different decisions.
You can use conditional statements in your code to do this.
The if...else Statement
In PHP we have the following conditional statements:
Use the if....else statement to execute some code if a condition is true and
if statement - use this statement to execute some code only if a another code if a condition is false.
specified condition is true
if...else statement - use this statement to execute some code if a
condition is true and another code if the condition is false Syntax
if...elseif....else statement - use this statement to select one of several if (condition)
blocks of code to be executed code to be executed if condition is true;
switch statement - use this statement to select one of many blocks of else
code to be executed code to be executed if condition is false;
Example
The if Statement The following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if the current day is
Friday, otherwise it will output "Have a nice day!":
Use the if statement to execute some code only if a specified condition is true.
<html>
Syntax <body>
if (condition) code to be executed if condition is true;
<?php
$d=date("D");
The following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if the current day is if ($d=="Fri")
Friday: echo "Have a nice weekend!";
WEB PROGRAMMING 8
else code to be executed if condition is false;
echo "Have a nice day!";
?> Example
</body>
The following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if the current day is
</html> Friday, and "Have a nice Sunday!" if the current day is Sunday. Otherwise it will
output "Have a nice day!":
If more than one line should be executed if a condition is true/false, the lines
should be enclosed within curly braces: <html>
<body>
<html>
<body> <?php
$d=date("D");
<?php if ($d=="Fri")
$d=date("D"); echo "Have a nice weekend!";
if ($d=="Fri") elseif ($d=="Sun")
{ echo "Have a nice Sunday!";
echo "Hello!<br />"; else
echo "Have a nice weekend!"; echo "Have a nice day!";
echo "See you on Monday!"; ?>
}
?> </body>
</html>
</body>
</html>
The if...elseif....else Statement
Use the if....elseif...else statement to select one of several blocks of code to be
executed.
Syntax
if (condition)
code to be executed if condition is true;
elseif (condition) PHP Switch Statement
code to be executed if condition is true;
else
WEB PROGRAMMING 9
Conditional statements are used to perform different actions based on break;
different conditions. case 2:
echo "Number 2";
break;
case 3:
The PHP Switch Statement echo "Number 3";
break;
default:
Use the switch statement to select one of many blocks of code to be executed.
echo "No number between 1 and 3";
}
Syntax ?>
switch (n)
{ </body>
case label1: </html>
code to be executed if n=label1;
break;
case label2:
code to be executed if n=label2;
break;
default:
code to be executed if n is different from both label1 and
label2;
}
This is how it works: First we have a single expression n (most often a variable),
that is evaluated once. The value of the expression is then compared with the
values for each case in the structure. If there is a match, the block of code
associated with that case is executed. Use break to prevent the code from
running into the next case automatically. The default statement is used if no
match is found.
Example
<html>
<body>
<?php PHP Arrays
switch ($x)
{
case 1:
echo "Number 1"; An array stores multiple values in one single variable.
WEB PROGRAMMING 10
There are two methods to create a numeric array.
What is an Array? 1. In the following example the index are automatically assigned (the index starts
at 0):
A variable is a storage area holding a number or text. The problem is, a variable
will hold only one value. $cars=array("Saab","Volvo","BMW","Toyota");
An array is a special variable, which can store multiple values in one single
2. In the following example we assign the index manually:
variable.
If you have a list of items (a list of car names, for example), storing the cars in $cars[0]="Saab";
single variables could look like this: $cars[1]="Volvo";
$cars[2]="BMW";
$cars[3]="Toyota";
$cars1="Saab";
$cars2="Volvo";
$cars3="BMW"; Example
In the following example you access the variable values by referring to the array
However, what if you want to loop through the cars and find a specific one? And name and index:
what if you had not 3 cars, but 300?
<?php
The best solution here is to use an array!
$cars[0]="Saab";
$cars[1]="Volvo";
An array can hold all your variable values under a single name. And you can
$cars[2]="BMW";
access the values by referring to the array name.
$cars[3]="Toyota";
echo $cars[0] . " and " . $cars[1] . " are Swedish cars.";
Each element in the array has its own index so that it can be easily accessed. ?>
In PHP, there are three kind of arrays:
The code above will output:
Numeric array - An array with a numeric index
Associative array - An array where each ID key is associated with a Saab and Volvo are Swedish cars.
value
Multidimensional array - An array containing one or more arrays
Associative Arrays
Numeric Arrays An associative array, each ID key is associated with a value.
A numeric array stores each array element with a numeric index.
WEB PROGRAMMING 11
When storing data about specific named values, a numerical array is not always In a multidimensional array, each element in the main array can also be an
the best way to do it. array. And each element in the sub-array can be an array, and so on.
With associative arrays we can use the values as keys and assign values to them. Example
Example 1 In this example we create a multidimensional array, with automatically assigned
ID keys:
In this example we use an array to assign ages to the different persons:
$families = array
$ages = array("Peter"=>32, "Quagmire"=>30, "Joe"=>34); (
"Griffin"=>array
(
Example 2
"Peter",
"Lois",
This example is the same as example 1, but shows a different way of creating the
"Megan"
array:
),
"Quagmire"=>array
$ages['Peter'] = "32"; (
$ages['Quagmire'] = "30"; "Glenn"
$ages['Joe'] = "34"; ),
"Brown"=>array
(
The ID keys can be used in a script:
"Cleveland",
"Loretta",
<?php "Junior"
$ages['Peter'] = "32"; )
$ages['Quagmire'] = "30"; );
$ages['Joe'] = "34";
echo "Peter is " . $ages['Peter'] . " years old."; The array above would look like this if written to the output:
?>
Array
(
The code above will output:
[Griffin] => Array
(
Peter is 32 years old. [0] => Peter
[1] => Lois
[2] => Megan
)
Multidimensional Arrays [Quagmire] => Array
(
WEB PROGRAMMING 12
[0] => Glenn In PHP, we have the following looping statements:
)
[Brown] => Array while - loops through a block of code while a specified condition is true
( do...while - loops through a block of code once, and then repeats the
[0] => Cleveland loop as long as a specified condition is true
[1] => Loretta for - loops through a block of code a specified number of times
[2] => Junior foreach - loops through a block of code for each element in an array
)
)
Example 2 The while Loop
Lets try displaying a single value from the array above: The while loop executes a block of code while a condition is true.
echo "Is " . $families['Griffin'][2] . Syntax
" a part of the Griffin family?"; while (condition)
{
code to be executed;
The code above will output:
}
Is Megan a part of the Griffin family?
Example
The example below defines a loop that starts with i=1. The loop will continue to
PHP Looping - While Loops run as long as i is less than, or equal to 5. i will increase by 1 each time the loop
runs:
<html>
<body>
Loops execute a block of code a specified number of times, or while a
specified condition is true. <?php
$i=1;
while($i<=5)
{
PHP Loops echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />";
$i++;
Often when you write code, you want the same block of code to run over and }
over again in a row. Instead of adding several almost equal lines in a script we ?>
can use loops to perform a task like this.
</body>
WEB PROGRAMMING 13
</html> echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />";
}
while ($i<=5);
Output:
?>
The number is 1 </body>
The number is 2 </html>
The number is 3
The number is 4
The number is 5 Output:
The number is 2
The number is 3
The number is 4
The do...while Statement The number is 5
The number is 6
The do...while statement will always execute the block of code once, it will then
check the condition, and repeat the loop while the condition is true.
PHP Looping - For Loops
Syntax
do
{
code to be executed; Loops execute a block of code a specified number of times, or while a
} specified condition is true.
while (condition);
Example
The for Loop
The example below defines a loop that starts with i=1. It will then increment i
with 1, and write some output. Then the condition is checked, and the loop will The for loop is used when you know in advance how many times the script should
continue to run as long as i is less than, or equal to 5: run.
<html> Syntax
<body>
for (init; condition; increment)
{
<?php
code to be executed;
$i=1;
}
do
{
$i++; Parameters:
WEB PROGRAMMING 14
init: Mostly used to set a counter (but can be any code to be executed
once at the beginning of the loop)
The foreach Loop
condition: Evaluated for each loop iteration. If it evaluates to TRUE, the
loop continues. If it evaluates to FALSE, the loop ends. The foreach loop is used to loop through arrays.
increment: Mostly used to increment a counter (but can be any code to be
executed at the end of the loop) Syntax
foreach ($array as $value)
Note: Each of the parameters above can be empty, or have multiple expressions {
(separated by commas). code to be executed;
}
Example
For every loop iteration, the value of the current array element is assigned to
The example below defines a loop that starts with i=1. The loop will continue to $value (and the array pointer is moved by one) - so on the next loop iteration,
run as long as i is less than, or equal to 5. i will increase by 1 each time the loop you'll be looking at the next array value.
runs:
Example
<html>
<body> The following example demonstrates a loop that will print the values of the given
array:
<?php
for ($i=1; $i<=5; $i++)
{ <html>
echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />"; <body>
}
?> <?php
$x=array("one","two","three");
</body> foreach ($x as $value)
</html> {
echo $value . "<br />";
}
Output: ?>
The number is 1 </body>
The number is 2 </html>
The number is 3
The number is 4 Output:
The number is 5
one
two
three
WEB PROGRAMMING 15
You may call a function from anywhere within a page.
Create a PHP Function
A function will be executed by a call to the function.
Syntax
function functionName()
{
code to be executed;
}
PHP Functions
PHP function guidelines:
Give the function a name that reflects what the function does
The real power of PHP comes from its functions.
The function name can start with a letter or underscore (not a number)
In PHP, there are more than 700 built-in functions. Example
A simple function that writes my name when it is called:
PHP Built-in Functions <html>
<body>
For a complete reference and examples of the built-in functions, please visit
our PHP Reference. <?php
function writeName()
{
echo "Kai Jim Refsnes";
PHP Functions }
In this chapter we will show you how to create your own functions. echo "My name is ";
writeName();
To keep the script from being executed when the page loads, you can put it into ?>
a function.
</body>
A function will be executed by a call to the function. </html>
WEB PROGRAMMING 16
Output: My name is Kai Jim Refsnes.
My sister's name is Hege Refsnes.
My name is Kai Jim Refsnes My brother's name is Stale Refsnes.
Example 2
PHP Functions - Adding parameters The following function has two parameters:
To add more functionality to a function, we can add parameters. A parameter is <html>
just like a variable. <body>
Parameters are specified after the function name, inside the parentheses. <?php
function writeName($fname,$punctuation)
Example 1 {
echo $fname . " Refsnes" . $punctuation . "<br />";
}
The following example will write different first names, but equal last name:
echo "My name is ";
<html> writeName("Kai Jim",".");
<body> echo "My sister's name is ";
writeName("Hege","!");
<?php echo "My brother's name is ";
function writeName($fname) writeName("Ståle","?");
{ ?>
echo $fname . " Refsnes.<br />";
} </body>
</html>
echo "My name is ";
writeName("Kai Jim");
echo "My sister's name is "; Output:
writeName("Hege");
echo "My brother's name is "; My name is Kai Jim Refsnes.
writeName("Stale"); My sister's name is Hege Refsnes!
?> My brother's name is Ståle Refsnes?
</body>
</html>
PHP Functions - Return values
Output:
To let a function return a value, use the return statement.
WEB PROGRAMMING 17
Example
<html>
<body>
<?php
PHP Forms and User Input
function add($x,$y)
{
$total=$x+$y;
return $total; The PHP $_GET and $_POST variables are used to retrieve information
} from forms, like user input.
echo "1 + 16 = " . add(1,16);
?>
PHP Form Handling
</body>
</html> The most important thing to notice when dealing with HTML forms and PHP is
that any form element in an HTML page will automatically be available to your
Output: PHP scripts.
1 + 16 = 17 Example
The example below contains an HTML form with two input fields and a submit
button:
<html>
<body>
<form action="welcome.php" method="post">
Name: <input type="text" name="fname" />
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
When a user fills out the form above and click on the submit button, the form
data is sent to a PHP file, called "welcome.php":
"welcome.php" looks like this:
WEB PROGRAMMING 18
<html>
<body>
PHP $_GET Function
Welcome <?php echo $_POST["fname"]; ?>!<br />
You are <?php echo $_POST["age"]; ?> years old.
The built-in $_GET function is used to collect values in a form with
</body> method="get".
</html>
Output could be something like this:
The $_GET Function
Welcome John!
The built-in $_GET function is used to collect values from a form sent with
You are 28 years old.
method="get".
The PHP $_GET and $_POST functions will be explained in the next chapters. Information sent from a form with the GET method is visible to everyone (it will
be displayed in the browser's address bar) and has limits on the amount of
information to send.
Form Validation Example
<form action="welcome.php" method="get">
User input should be validated on the browser whenever possible (by client Name: <input type="text" name="fname" />
scripts). Browser validation is faster and reduces the server load. Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
You should consider server validation if the user input will be inserted into a </form>
database. A good way to validate a form on the server is to post the form to
itself, instead of jumping to a different page. The user will then get the error
When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the URL sent to the server could look
messages on the same page as the form. This makes it easier to
something like this:
http://www.w3schools.com/welcome.php?fname=Peter&age=37
The "welcome.php" file can now use the $_GET function to collect form data (the
names of the form fields will automatically be the keys in the $_GET array):
Welcome <?php echo $_GET["fname"]; ?>.<br />
You are <?php echo $_GET["age"]; ?> years old!
WEB PROGRAMMING 19
When to use method="get"? PHP $_POST Function
When using method="get" in HTML forms, all variable names and values are
displayed in the URL.
The built-in $_POST function is used to collect values in a form with
Note: This method should not be used when sending passwords or other method="post".
sensitive information!
However, because the variables are displayed in the URL, it is possible to
bookmark the page. This can be useful in some cases.
The $_POST Function
Note: The get method is not suitable for very large variable values. It should not
be used with values exceeding 2000 characters. The built-in $_POST function is used to collect values from a form sent with
method="post".
Information sent from a form with the POST method is invisible to others and has
no limits on the amount of information to send.
Note: However, there is an 8 Mb max size for the POST method, by default (can
be changed by setting the post_max_size in the php.ini file).
Example
<form action="welcome.php" method="post">
Name: <input type="text" name="fname" />
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the URL will look like this:
http://www.w3schools.com/welcome.php
The "welcome.php" file can now use the $_POST function to collect form data
(the names of the form fields will automatically be the keys in the $_POST
array):
Welcome <?php echo $_POST["fname"]; ?>!<br />
You are <?php echo $_POST["age"]; ?> years old.
WEB PROGRAMMING 20
The $_REQUEST function can be used to collect form data sent with both the GET
and POST methods.
When to use method="post"? Example
Welcome <?php echo $_REQUEST["fname"]; ?>!<br />
Information sent from a form with the POST method is invisible to others and has You are <?php echo $_REQUEST["age"]; ?> years old.
no limits on the amount of information to send.
However, because the variables are not displayed in the URL, it is not possible to
bookmark the page.
The PHP $_REQUEST Function
The PHP built-in $_REQUEST function contains the contents of both $_GET,
$_POST, and $_COOKIE.
PHP Advanced
PHP Date 23
PHP Include 24
PHP File 27
PHP File Upload 29
PHP Cookies 31
WEB PROGRAMMING 21
PHP Sessions 33
PHP E-mail 35
PHP Secure E-mail 36
PHP Error 38
PHP Exception 43
PHP Filter 48
A timestamp is a sequence of characters, denoting the date and/or time at
which a certain event occurred.
Syntax
date(format,timestamp)
Parameter Description
format Required. Specifies the format of the timestamp
timestamp Optional. Specifies a timestamp. Default is the current date and
time
PHP Date() - Format the Date
The required format parameter in the date() function specifies how to format the
PHP Date() Function date/time.
Here are some characters that can be used:
d - Represents the day of the month (01 to 31)
The PHP date() function is used to format a time and/or date.
m - Represents a month (01 to 12)
Y - Represents a year (in four digits)
A list of all the characters that can be used in the format parameter, can be
The PHP Date() Function found in our PHP Date reference.
The PHP date() function formats a timestamp to a more readable date and time.
WEB PROGRAMMING 22
Other characters, like"/", ".", or "-" can also be inserted between the letters to Tomorrow is 2009/05/12
add additional formatting:
<?php
echo date("Y/m/d") . "<br />";
echo date("Y.m.d") . "<br />";
echo date("Y-m-d")
?>
The output of the code above could be something like this:
2009/05/11
2009.05.11
2009-05-11
PHP Date() - Adding a Timestamp
The optional timestamp parameter in the date() function specifies a timestamp. If
you do not specify a timestamp, the current date and time will be used.
The mktime() function returns the Unix timestamp for a date.
The Unix timestamp contains the number of seconds between the Unix Epoch
(January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT) and the time specified.
Syntax for mktime()
mktime(hour,minute,second,month,day,year,is_dst)
To go one day in the future we simply add one to the day argument of mktime(): PHP Include File
<?php
$tomorrow = mktime(0,0,0,date("m"),date("d")+1,date("Y"));
echo "Tomorrow is ".date("Y/m/d", $tomorrow); Server Side Includes (SSI)
?>
You can insert the content of one PHP file into another PHP file before the server
executes it, with the include() or require() function.
The output of the code above could be something like this:
WEB PROGRAMMING 23
The two functions are identical in every way, except how they handle errors: Example 2
include() generates a warning, but the script will continue execution Assume we have a standard menu file, called "menu.php", that should be used
require() generates a fatal error, and the script will stop on all pages:
These two functions are used to create functions, headers, footers, or elements <a href="/default.php">Home</a>
that will be reused on multiple pages.
<a href="/tutorials.php">Tutorials</a>
<a href="/references.php">References</a>
Server side includes saves a lot of work. This means that you can create a <a href="/examples.php">Examples</a>
standard header, footer, or menu file for all your web pages. When the header <a href="/about.php">About Us</a>
needs to be updated, you can only update the include file, or when you add a <a href="/contact.php">Contact Us</a>
new page to your site, you can simply change the menu file (instead of updating
the links on all your web pages).
All pages in the Web site should include this menu file. Here is how it can be
done:
PHP include() Function <html>
<body>
The include() function takes all the content in a specified file and includes it in the
current file. <div class="leftmenu">
<?php include("menu.php"); ?>
If an error occurs, the include() function generates a warning, but the script will </div>
continue execution.
<h1>Welcome to my home page.</h1>
<p>Some text.</p>
Example 1
</body>
Assume that you have a standard header file, called "header.php". To include the </html>
header file in a page, use the include() function:
If you look at the source code of the page above (in a browser), it will look like
<html>
this:
<body>
<?php include("header.php"); ?> <html>
<h1>Welcome to my home page!</h1> <body>
<p>Some text.</p>
<div class="leftmenu">
</body> <a href="/default.php">Home</a>
</html> <a href="/tutorials.php">Tutorials</a>
<a href="/references.php">References</a>
<a href="/examples.php">Examples</a>
WEB PROGRAMMING 24
<a href="/about.php">About Us</a> Warning: include() [function.include]:
<a href="/contact.php">Contact Us</a> Failed opening 'wrongFile.php' for inclusion
</div> (include_path='.;C:\php5\pear')
in C:\home\website\test.php on line 5
<h1>Welcome to my home page!</h1>
<p>Some text.</p> Hello World!
</body>
Notice that the echo statement is executed! This is because a Warning does not
</html>
stop the script execution.
Error Example require() Function
PHP require() Function Now, let's run the same example with the require() function.
The require() function is identical to include(), except that it handles errors <html>
differently. <body>
If an error occurs, the include() function generates a warning, but the script will <?php
continue execution. The require() generates a fatal error, and the script will stop. require("wrongFile.php");
echo "Hello World!";
Error Example include() Function ?>
<html>
<body> </body>
</html>
<?php
include("wrongFile.php"); Error message:
echo "Hello World!";
?>
Warning: require(wrongFile.php) [function.require]:
</body> failed to open stream:
</html> No such file or directory in C:\home\website\test.php on line
5
Error message: Fatal error: require() [function.require]:
Failed opening required 'wrongFile.php'
Warning: include(wrongFile.php) [function.include]: (include_path='.;C:\php5\pear')
failed to open stream: in C:\home\website\test.php on line 5
No such file or directory in C:\home\website\test.php on line
5 The echo statement is not executed, because the script execution stopped after
the fatal error.
WEB PROGRAMMING 25
It is recommended to use the require() function instead of include(), because <html>
scripts should not continue after an error. <body>
<?php
$file=fopen("welcome.txt","r");
?>
</body>
</html>
The file may be opened in one of the following modes:
Modes Description
r Read only. Starts at the beginning of the file
r+ Read/Write. Starts at the beginning of the file
w Write only. Opens and clears the contents of file; or creates a
new file if it doesn't exist
w+ Read/Write. Opens and clears the contents of file; or creates a
new file if it doesn't exist
a Append. Opens and writes to the end of the file or creates a
new file if it doesn't exist
a+ Read/Append. Preserves file content by writing to the end of the
PHP File Handling file
x Write only. Creates a new file. Returns FALSE and an error if file
already exists
x+ Read/Write. Creates a new file. Returns FALSE and an error if
The fopen() function is used to open files in PHP. file already exists
Note: If the fopen() function is unable to open the specified file, it returns 0
(false).
Opening a File
Example
The fopen() function is used to open files in PHP.
The following example generates a message if the fopen() function is unable to
The first parameter of this function contains the name of the file to be opened open the specified file:
and the second parameter specifies in which mode the file should be opened:
WEB PROGRAMMING 26
<html> Reading a File Line by Line
<body>
The fgets() function is used to read a single line from a file.
<?php
$file=fopen("welcome.txt","r") or exit("Unable to open
Note: After a call to this function the file pointer has moved to the next line.
file!");
?>
Example
</body>
</html> The example below reads a file line by line, until the end of file is reached:
<?php
$file = fopen("welcome.txt", "r") or exit("Unable to open
Closing a File file!");
//Output a line of the file until the end is reached
while(!feof($file))
The fclose() function is used to close an open file: {
echo fgets($file). "<br />";
<?php }
$file = fopen("test.txt","r"); fclose($file);
?>
//some code to be executed
fclose($file);
?>
Reading a File Character by Character
The fgetc() function is used to read a single character from a file.
Check End-of-file Note: After a call to this function the file pointer moves to the next character.
The feof() function checks if the "end-of-file" (EOF) has been reached. Example
The feof() function is useful for looping through data of unknown length.
The example below reads a file character by character, until the end of file is
reached:
Note: You cannot read from files opened in w, a, and x mode!
<?php
if (feof($file)) echo "End of file"; $file=fopen("welcome.txt","r") or exit("Unable to open
file!");
while (!feof($file))
WEB PROGRAMMING 27
{ <label for="file">Filename:</label>
echo fgetc($file); <input type="file" name="file" id="file" />
} <br />
fclose($file); <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" />
?> </form>
</body>
</html>
Notice the following about the HTML form above:
The enctype attribute of the <form> tag specifies which content-type to
use when submitting the form. "multipart/form-data" is used when a form
requires binary data, like the contents of a file, to be uploaded
The type="file" attribute of the <input> tag specifies that the input should
be processed as a file. For example, when viewed in a browser, there will
be a browse-button next to the input field
Note: Allowing users to upload files is a big security risk. Only permit trusted
users to perform file uploads.
PHP File Upload
Create The Upload Script
With PHP, it is possible to upload files to the server.
The "upload_file.php" file contains the code for uploading a file:
Create an Upload-File Form <?php
if ($_FILES["file"]["error"] > 0)
{
To allow users to upload files from a form can be very useful. echo "Error: " . $_FILES["file"]["error"] . "<br />";
}
Look at the following HTML form for uploading files: else
{
<html> echo "Upload: " . $_FILES["file"]["name"] . "<br />";
<body> echo "Type: " . $_FILES["file"]["type"] . "<br />";
echo "Size: " . ($_FILES["file"]["size"] / 1024) . "
<form action="upload_file.php" method="post" Kb<br />";
enctype="multipart/form-data"> echo "Stored in: " . $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"];
WEB PROGRAMMING 28
} echo "Type: " . $_FILES["file"]["type"] . "<br />";
?> echo "Size: " . ($_FILES["file"]["size"] / 1024) . "
Kb<br />";
echo "Stored in: " . $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"];
By using the global PHP $_FILES array you can upload files from a client
}
computer to the remote server.
}
else
The first parameter is the form's input name and the second index can be either {
"name", "type", "size", "tmp_name" or "error". Like this:
echo "Invalid file";
}
$_FILES["file"]["name"] - the name of the uploaded file ?>
$_FILES["file"]["type"] - the type of the uploaded file
$_FILES["file"]["size"] - the size in bytes of the uploaded file
$_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"] - the name of the temporary copy of the file Note: For IE to recognize jpg files the type must be pjpeg, for FireFox it must be
stored on the server jpeg.
$_FILES["file"]["error"] - the error code resulting from the file upload
This is a very simple way of uploading files. For security reasons, you should add
restrictions on what the user is allowed to upload. Saving the Uploaded File
The examples above create a temporary copy of the uploaded files in the PHP
temp folder on the server.
Restrictions on Upload
The temporary copied files disappears when the script ends. To store the
In this script we add some restrictions to the file upload. The user may only uploaded file we need to copy it to a different location:
upload .gif or .jpeg files and the file size must be under 20 kb:
<?php
<?php if ((($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/gif")
if ((($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/gif") || ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/jpeg")
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/jpeg") || ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/pjpeg"))
|| ($_FILES["file"]["type"] == "image/pjpeg")) && ($_FILES["file"]["size"] < 20000))
&& ($_FILES["file"]["size"] < 20000)) {
{ if ($_FILES["file"]["error"] > 0)
if ($_FILES["file"]["error"] > 0) {
{ echo "Return Code: " . $_FILES["file"]["error"] . "<br
echo "Error: " . $_FILES["file"]["error"] . "<br />"; />";
} }
else else
{ {
echo "Upload: " . $_FILES["file"]["name"] . "<br />"; echo "Upload: " . $_FILES["file"]["name"] . "<br />";
WEB PROGRAMMING 29
echo "Type: " . $_FILES["file"]["type"] . "<br />";
echo "Size: " . ($_FILES["file"]["size"] / 1024) . "
Kb<br />";
echo "Temp file: " . $_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"] .
"<br />";
if (file_exists("upload/" . $_FILES["file"]["name"]))
{
echo $_FILES["file"]["name"] . " already exists. ";
}
else
{
move_uploaded_file($_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"],
"upload/" . $_FILES["file"]["name"]);
echo "Stored in: " . "upload/" . $_FILES["file"]
["name"];
}
}
}
else
{
echo "Invalid file";
}
?> PHP Cookies
The script above checks if the file already exists, if it does not, it copies the file to
the specified folder.
A cookie is often used to identify a user.
Note: This example saves the file to a new folder called "upload"
What is a Cookie?
A cookie is often used to identify a user. A cookie is a small file that the server
embeds on the user's computer. Each time the same computer requests a page
with a browser, it will send the cookie too. With PHP, you can both create and
retrieve cookie values.
WEB PROGRAMMING 30
How to Create a Cookie? In the example above the expiration time is set to a month (60 sec * 60 min *
24 hours * 30 days).
The setcookie() function is used to set a cookie.
Note: The setcookie() function must appear BEFORE the <html> tag.
How to Retrieve a Cookie Value?
Syntax
The PHP $_COOKIE variable is used to retrieve a cookie value.
setcookie(name, value, expire, path, domain);
In the example below, we retrieve the value of the cookie named "user" and
Example 1 display it on a page:
In the example below, we will create a cookie named "user" and assign the value <?php
"Alex Porter" to it. We also specify that the cookie should expire after one hour: // Print a cookie
echo $_COOKIE["user"];
<?php
setcookie("user", "Alex Porter", time()+3600); // A way to view all cookies
?> print_r($_COOKIE);
?>
<html>
..... In the following example we use the isset() function to find out if a cookie has
been set:
Note: The value of the cookie is automatically URLencoded when sending the
cookie, and automatically decoded when received (to prevent URLencoding, use <html>
setrawcookie() instead). <body>
Example 2 <?php
if (isset($_COOKIE["user"]))
You can also set the expiration time of the cookie in another way. It may be echo "Welcome " . $_COOKIE["user"] . "!<br />";
easier than using seconds. else
echo "Welcome guest!<br />";
?>
<?php
$expire=time()+60*60*24*30;
</body>
setcookie("user", "Alex Porter", $expire);
</html>
?>
<html>
.....
How to Delete a Cookie?
WEB PROGRAMMING 31
When deleting a cookie you should assure that the expiration date is in the past. You are <?php echo $_POST["age"]; ?> years old.
Delete example: </body>
</html>
<?php
// set the expiration date to one hour ago
setcookie("user", "", time()-3600);
?>
What if a Browser Does NOT Support Cookies?
If your application deals with browsers that do not support cookies, you will have
to use other methods to pass information from one page to another in your
application. One method is to pass the data through forms (forms and user input
are described earlier in this tutorial).
The form below passes the user input to "welcome.php" when the user clicks on
PHP Sessions
the "Submit" button:
<html> A PHP session variable is used to store information about, or change
<body> settings for a user session. Session variables hold information about
one single user, and are available to all pages in one application.
<form action="welcome.php" method="post">
Name: <input type="text" name="name" />
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form> PHP Session Variables
</body> When you are working with an application, you open it, do some changes and
</html> then you close it. This is much like a Session. The computer knows who you are.
It knows when you start the application and when you end. But on the internet
there is one problem: the web server does not know who you are and what you
Retrieve the values in the "welcome.php" file like this: do because the HTTP address doesn't maintain state.
<html> A PHP session solves this problem by allowing you to store user information on
<body> the server for later use (i.e. username, shopping items, etc). However, session
information is temporary and will be deleted after the user has left the website. If
Welcome <?php echo $_POST["name"]; ?>.<br /> you need a permanent storage you may want to store the data in a database.
WEB PROGRAMMING 32
Sessions work by creating a unique id (UID) for each visitor and store variables
based on this UID. The UID is either stored in a cookie or is propagated in the <?php
URL. //retrieve session data
echo "Pageviews=". $_SESSION['views'];
?>
Starting a PHP Session </body>
</html>
Before you can store user information in your PHP session, you must first start up
the session. Output:
Note: The session_start() function must appear BEFORE the <html> tag:
Pageviews=1
<?php session_start(); ?>
In the example below, we create a simple page-views counter. The isset()
<html> function checks if the "views" variable has already been set. If "views" has been
<body> set, we can increment our counter. If "views" doesn't exist, we create a "views"
variable, and set it to 1:
</body>
</html> <?php
session_start();
The code above will register the user's session with the server, allow you to start
if(isset($_SESSION['views']))
saving user information, and assign a UID for that user's session.
$_SESSION['views']=$_SESSION['views']+1;
else
$_SESSION['views']=1;
echo "Views=". $_SESSION['views'];
Storing a Session Variable ?>
The correct way to store and retrieve session variables is to use the PHP
$_SESSION variable:
Destroying a Session
<?php
session_start(); If you wish to delete some session data, you can use the unset() or the
// store session data session_destroy() function.
$_SESSION['views']=1;
?>
The unset() function is used to free the specified session variable:
<html>
<body> <?php
WEB PROGRAMMING 33
unset($_SESSION['views']); headers Optional. Specifies additional headers, like From, Cc, and Bcc.
?> The additional headers should be separated with a CRLF (\r\n)
parameters Optional. Specifies an additional parameter to the sendmail
You can also completely destroy the session by calling the session_destroy() program
function:
Note: For the mail functions to be available, PHP requires an installed and
<?php working email system. The program to be used is defined by the configuration
session_destroy(); settings in the php.ini file. Read more in ourPHP Mail reference.
?>
Note: session_destroy() will reset your session and you will lose all your stored
session data. PHP Simple E-Mail
The simplest way to send an email with PHP is to send a text email.
PHP Sending E-mails
In the example below we first declare the variables ($to, $subject, $message,
$from, $headers), then we use the variables in the mail() function to send an e-
mail:
PHP allows you to send e-mails directly from a script.
<?php
$to = "someone@example.com";
$subject = "Test mail";
The PHP mail() Function $message = "Hello! This is a simple email message.";
$from = "someonelse@example.com";
The PHP mail() function is used to send emails from inside a script. $headers = "From: $from";
mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers);
echo "Mail Sent.";
Syntax
?>
mail(to,subject,message,headers,parameters)
Parameter Description PHP Mail Form
to Required. Specifies the receiver / receivers of the email
With PHP, you can create a feedback-form on your website. The example below
subject Required. Specifies the subject of the email. Note: This
sends a text message to a specified e-mail address:
parameter cannot contain any newline characters
message Required. Defines the message to be sent. Each line should be
<html>
separated with a LF (\n). Lines should not exceed 70 characters
<body>
WEB PROGRAMMING 34
<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST['email']))
//if "email" is filled out, send email
{
//send email
$email = $_REQUEST['email'] ;
$subject = $_REQUEST['subject'] ;
$message = $_REQUEST['message'] ;
mail( "someone@example.com", "Subject: $subject",
$message, "From: $email" );
echo "Thank you for using our mail form";
}
else
//if "email" is not filled out, display the form PHP Secure E-mails
{
echo "<form method='post' action='mailform.php'>
Email: <input name='email' type='text' /><br />
Subject: <input name='subject' type='text' /><br /> There is a weakness in the PHP e-mail script in the previous chapter.
Message:<br />
<textarea name='message' rows='15' cols='40'>
</textarea><br />
<input type='submit' /> PHP E-mail Injections
</form>";
}
First, look at the PHP code from the previous chapter:
?>
</body> <html>
</html> <body>
<?php
This is how the example above works:
if (isset($_REQUEST['email']))
//if "email" is filled out, send email
First, check if the email input field is filled out {
If it is not set (like when the page is first visited); output the HTML form
//send email
If it is set (after the form is filled out); send the email from the form
$email = $_REQUEST['email'] ;
When submit is pressed after the form is filled out, the page reloads, sees
$subject = $_REQUEST['subject'] ;
that the email input is set, and sends the email
$message = $_REQUEST['message'] ;
mail("someone@example.com", "Subject: $subject",
Note: This is the simplest way to send e-mail, but it is not secure. In the next $message, "From: $email" );
chapter of this tutorial you can read more about vulnerabilities in e-mail scripts, echo "Thank you for using our mail form";
and how to validate user input to make it more secure.
WEB PROGRAMMING 35
} The code below is the same as in the previous chapter, but now we have added
else an input validator that checks the email field in the form:
//if "email" is not filled out, display the form
{ <html>
echo "<form method='post' action='mailform.php'> <body>
Email: <input name='email' type='text' /><br /> <?php
Subject: <input name='subject' type='text' /><br /> function spamcheck($field)
Message:<br /> {
<textarea name='message' rows='15' cols='40'> //filter_var() sanitizes the e-mail
</textarea><br /> //address using FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL
<input type='submit' /> $field=filter_var($field, FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);
</form>";
} //filter_var() validates the e-mail
?> //address using FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL
if(filter_var($field, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL))
</body> {
</html> return TRUE;
}
else
The problem with the code above is that unauthorized users can insert data into
the mail headers via the input form.
{
return FALSE;
}
What happens if the user adds the following text to the email input field in the
}
form?
if (isset($_REQUEST['email']))
someone@example.com%0ACc:person2@example.com {//if "email" is filled out, proceed
%0ABcc:person3@example.com,person3@example.com,
anotherperson4@example.com,person5@example.com //check if the email address is invalid
%0ABTo:person6@example.com $mailcheck = spamcheck($_REQUEST['email']);
if ($mailcheck==FALSE)
The mail() function puts the text above into the mail headers as usual, and now {
the header has an extra Cc:, Bcc:, and To: field. When the user clicks the submit echo "Invalid input";
button, the e-mail will be sent to all of the addresses above! }
else
{//send email
$email = $_REQUEST['email'] ;
$subject = $_REQUEST['subject'] ;
PHP Stopping E-mail Injections $message = $_REQUEST['message'] ;
mail("someone@example.com", "Subject: $subject",
The best way to stop e-mail injections is to validate the input. $message, "From: $email" );
echo "Thank you for using our mail form";
WEB PROGRAMMING 36
}
}
else
{//if "email" is not filled out, display the form
echo "<form method='post' action='mailform.php'>
Email: <input name='email' type='text' /><br />
Subject: <input name='subject' type='text' /><br />
Message:<br />
<textarea name='message' rows='15' cols='40'>
</textarea><br />
<input type='submit' /> PHP Error Handling
</form>";
}
?>
The default error handling in PHP is very simple. An error message
</body> with filename, line number and a message describing the error is sent
</html> to the browser.
In the code above we use PHP filters to validate input:
The FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL filter removes all illegal e-mail characters PHP Error Handling
from a string
The FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL filter validates value as an e-mail address When creating scripts and web applications, error handling is an important part.
If your code lacks error checking code, your program may look very
unprofessional and you may be open to security risks.
This tutorial contains some of the most common error checking methods in PHP.
We will show different error handling methods:
Simple "die()" statements
Custom errors and error triggers
Error reporting
Basic Error Handling: Using the die() function
The first example shows a simple script that opens a text file:
WEB PROGRAMMING 37
<?php Creating a custom error handler is quite simple. We simply create a special
$file=fopen("welcome.txt","r"); function that can be called when an error occurs in PHP.
?>
This function must be able to handle a minimum of two parameters (error level
and error message) but can accept up to five parameters (optionally: file, line-
If the file does not exist you might get an error like this: number, and the error context):
Warning: fopen(welcome.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to open
stream:
Syntax
No such file or directory in C:\webfolder\test.php on line 2
error_function(error_level,error_message,
error_file,error_line,error_context)
To avoid that the user gets an error message like the one above, we test if the
file exist before we try to access it:
Parameter Description
<?php error_level Required. Specifies the error report level for the user-defined
if(!file_exists("welcome.txt")) error. Must be a value number. See table below for possible
{ error report levels
die("File not found"); error_message Required. Specifies the error message for the user-defined error
}
error_file Optional. Specifies the filename in which the error occurred
else
{ error_line Optional. Specifies the line number in which the error occurred
$file=fopen("welcome.txt","r"); error_context Optional. Specifies an array containing every variable, and their
} values, in use when the error occurred
?>
Error Report levels
Now if the file does not exist you get an error like this:
These error report levels are the different types of error the user-defined error
File not found handler can be used for:
The code above is more efficient than the earlier code, because it uses a simple Valu Constant Description
error handling mechanism to stop the script after the error. e
2 E_WARNING Non-fatal run-time errors. Execution of the
However, simply stopping the script is not always the right way to go. Let's take script is not halted
a look at alternative PHP functions for handling errors.
8 E_NOTICE Run-time notices. The script found something
that might be an error, but could also happen
when running a script normally
Creating a Custom Error Handler 256 E_USER_ERROR Fatal user-generated error. This is like an
E_ERROR set by the programmer using the PHP
WEB PROGRAMMING 38
function trigger_error() It is possible to change the error handler to apply for only some errors, that way
the script can handle different errors in different ways. However, in this example
512 E_USER_WARNING Non-fatal user-generated warning. This is like we are going to use our custom error handler for all errors:
an E_WARNING set by the programmer using
the PHP function trigger_error()
set_error_handler("customError");
1024 E_USER_NOTICE User-generated notice. This is like an
E_NOTICE set by the programmer using the
PHP function trigger_error() Since we want our custom function to handle all errors, the set_error_handler()
only needed one parameter, a second parameter could be added to specify an
4096 E_RECOVERABLE_ERRO Catchable fatal error. This is like an E_ERROR error level.
R but can be caught by a user defined handle
(see also set_error_handler())
8191 E_ALL All errors and warnings, except level E_STRICT
Example
(E_STRICT will be part of E_ALL as of PHP 6.0)
Testing the error handler by trying to output variable that does not exist:
Now lets create a function to handle errors:
<?php
//error handler function
function customError($errno, $errstr) function customError($errno, $errstr)
{ {
echo "<b>Error:</b> [$errno] $errstr<br />"; echo "<b>Error:</b> [$errno] $errstr";
echo "Ending Script"; }
die();
} //set error handler
set_error_handler("customError");
The code above is a simple error handling function. When it is triggered, it gets
the error level and an error message. It then outputs the error level and message //trigger error
and terminates the script. echo($test);
?>
Now that we have created an error handling function we need to decide when it
should be triggered. The output of the code above should be something like this:
Error: [8] Undefined variable: test
Set Error Handler
The default error handler for PHP is the built in error handler. We are going to
make the function above the default error handler for the duration of the script. Trigger an Error
In a script where users can input data it is useful to trigger errors when an illegal
input occurs. In PHP, this is done by the trigger_error() function.
WEB PROGRAMMING 39
Example function customError($errno, $errstr)
{
In this example an error occurs if the "test" variable is bigger than "1":
echo "<b>Error:</b> [$errno] $errstr<br />";
echo "Ending Script";
die();
<?php }
$test=2;
if ($test>1) //set error handler
{ set_error_handler("customError",E_USER_WARNING);
trigger_error("Value must be 1 or below");
} //trigger error
?> $test=2;
if ($test>1)
The output of the code above should be something like this: {
trigger_error("Value must be 1 or below",E_USER_WARNING);
}
Notice: Value must be 1 or below ?>
in C:\webfolder\test.php on line 6
The output of the code above should be something like this:
An error can be triggered anywhere you wish in a script, and by adding a second
parameter, you can specify what error level is triggered.
Error: [512] Value must be 1 or below
Possible error types: Ending Script
E_USER_ERROR - Fatal user-generated run-time error. Errors that can not Now that we have learned to create our own errors and how to trigger them, lets
be recovered from. Execution of the script is halted take a look at error logging.
E_USER_WARNING - Non-fatal user-generated run-time warning.
Execution of the script is not halted
E_USER_NOTICE - Default. User-generated run-time notice. The script
found something that might be an error, but could also happen when
running a script normally
Error Logging
By default, PHP sends an error log to the servers logging system or a file,
Example depending on how the error_log configuration is set in the php.ini file. By using
the error_log() function you can send error logs to a specified file or a remote
In this example an E_USER_WARNING occurs if the "test" variable is bigger than destination.
"1". If an E_USER_WARNING occurs we will use our custom error handler and
end the script: Sending errors messages to yourself by e-mail can be a good way of getting
notified of specific errors.
<?php
//error handler function Send an Error Message by E-Mail
WEB PROGRAMMING 40
In the example below we will send an e-mail with an error message and end the
script, if a specific error occurs:
<?php
//error handler function
function customError($errno, $errstr)
{
echo "<b>Error:</b> [$errno] $errstr<br />";
echo "Webmaster has been notified";
error_log("Error: [$errno] $errstr",1,
"someone@example.com","From: webmaster@example.com");
}
//set error handler
set_error_handler("customError",E_USER_WARNING);
//trigger error
$test=2;
if ($test>1)
{
trigger_error("Value must be 1 or below",E_USER_WARNING);
}
?>
The output of the code above should be something like this:
Error: [512] Value must be 1 or below
Webmaster has been notified
And the mail received from the code above looks like this:
Error: [512] Value must be 1 or below PHP Exception Handling
This should not be used with all errors. Regular errors should be logged on the
server using the default PHP logging system.
Exceptions are used to change the normal flow of a script if a specified
error occurs
WEB PROGRAMMING 41
What is an Exception <?php
//create function with an exception
With PHP 5 came a new object oriented way of dealing with errors.
function checkNum($number)
{
if($number>1)
Exception handling is used to change the normal flow of the code execution if a
{
specified error (exceptional) condition occurs. This condition is called an
throw new Exception("Value must be 1 or below");
exception.
}
This is what normally happens when an exception is triggered:
return true;
}
The current code state is saved
//trigger exception
The code execution will switch to a predefined (custom) exception handler
checkNum(2);
function
?>
Depending on the situation, the handler may then resume the execution
from the saved code state, terminate the script execution or continue the
script from a different location in the code The code above will get an error like this:
We will show different error handling methods: Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception'
with message 'Value must be 1 or below' in
Basic use of Exceptions C:\webfolder\test.php:6
Creating a custom exception handler Stack trace: #0 C:\webfolder\test.php(12):
Multiple exceptions checkNum(28) #1 {main} thrown in C:\webfolder\test.php on
Re-throwing an exception line 6
Setting a top level exception handler
Note: Exceptions should only be used with error conditions, and should not be Try, throw and catch
used to jump to another place in the code at a specified point.
To avoid the error from the example above, we need to create the proper code to
handle an exception.
Basic Use of Exceptions Proper exception code should include:
1. Try - A function using an exception should be in a "try" block. If the
When an exception is thrown, the code following it will not be executed, and PHP
exception does not trigger, the code will continue as normal. However if
will try to find the matching "catch" block.
the exception triggers, an exception is "thrown"
2. Throw - This is how you trigger an exception. Each "throw" must have at
If an exception is not caught, a fatal error will be issued with an "Uncaught
least one "catch"
Exception" message.
3. Catch - A "catch" block retrieves an exception and creates an object
containing the exception information
Lets try to throw an exception without catching it:
Lets try to trigger an exception with valid code:
WEB PROGRAMMING 42
<?php 5. The error message from the exception is echoed by calling $e-
//create function with an exception >getMessage() from the exception object
function checkNum($number)
{ However, one way to get around the "every throw must have a catch" rule is to
if($number>1) set a top level exception handler to handle errors that slip through.
{
throw new Exception("Value must be 1 or below");
}
return true; Creating a Custom Exception Class
}
Creating a custom exception handler is quite simple. We simply create a special
//trigger exception in a "try" block class with functions that can be called when an exception occurs in PHP. The
try class must be an extension of the exception class.
{
checkNum(2); The custom exception class inherits the properties from PHP's exception class and
//If the exception is thrown, this text will not be shown you can add custom functions to it.
echo 'If you see this, the number is 1 or below';
}
Lets create an exception class:
//catch exception
catch(Exception $e) <?php
{ class customException extends Exception
echo 'Message: ' .$e->getMessage(); {
} public function errorMessage()
?> {
//error message
$errorMsg = 'Error on line '.$this->getLine().' in '.
The code above will get an error like this: $this->getFile()
.': <b>'.$this->getMessage().'</b> is not a valid E-Mail
Message: Value must be 1 or below address';
return $errorMsg;
}
Example explained: }
The code above throws an exception and catches it: $email = "someone@example...com";
1. The checkNum() function is created. It checks if a number is greater than try
1. If it is, an exception is thrown {
2. The checkNum() function is called in a "try" block //check if
3. The exception within the checkNum() function is thrown if(filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) === FALSE)
4. The "catch" block retrives the exception and creates an object ($e) {
containing the exception information
WEB PROGRAMMING 43
//throw exception if email is not valid It is possible to use several if..else blocks, a switch, or nest multiple exceptions.
throw new customException($email); These exceptions can use different exception classes and return different error
} messages:
}
<?php
catch (customException $e) class customException extends Exception
{ {
//display custom message public function errorMessage()
echo $e->errorMessage(); {
} //error message
?> $errorMsg = 'Error on line '.$this->getLine().' in '.$this-
>getFile()
.': <b>'.$this->getMessage().'</b> is not a valid E-Mail
The new class is a copy of the old exception class with an addition of the
address';
errorMessage() function. Since it is a copy of the old class, and it inherits the
properties and methods from the old class, we can use the exception class
return $errorMsg;
methods like getLine() and getFile() and getMessage(). }
}
Example explained: $email = "someone@example.com";
The code above throws an exception and catches it with a custom exception try
class: {
//check if
1. The customException() class is created as an extension of the old if(filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) === FALSE)
exception class. This way it inherits all methods and properties from the {
old exception class //throw exception if email is not valid
2. The errorMessage() function is created. This function returns an error throw new customException($email);
message if an e-mail address is invalid }
3. The $email variable is set to a string that is not a valid e-mail address //check for "example" in mail address
4. The "try" block is executed and an exception is thrown since the e-mail if(strpos($email, "example") !== FALSE)
address is invalid {
5. The "catch" block catches the exception and displays the error message throw new Exception("$email is an example e-mail");
}
}
Multiple Exceptions catch (customException $e)
{
echo $e->errorMessage();
It is possible for a script to use multiple exceptions to check for multiple }
conditions.
catch(Exception $e)
WEB PROGRAMMING 44
{ <?php
echo $e->getMessage(); class customException extends Exception
} {
?> public function errorMessage()
{
//error message
Example explained: $errorMsg = $this->getMessage().' is not a valid E-Mail
address.';
The code above tests two conditions and throws an exception if any of the return $errorMsg;
conditions are not met: }
}
1. The customException() class is created as an extension of the old
exception class. This way it inherits all methods and properties from the $email = "someone@example.com";
old exception class
2. The errorMessage() function is created. This function returns an error try
message if an e-mail address is invalid {
3. The $email variable is set to a string that is a valid e-mail address, but try
contains the string "example" {
4. The "try" block is executed and an exception is not thrown on the first //check for "example" in mail address
condition if(strpos($email, "example") !== FALSE)
5. The second condition triggers an exception since the e-mail contains the {
string "example" //throw exception if email is not valid
6. The "catch" block catches the exception and displays the correct error
throw new Exception($email);
message
}
}
If there was no customException catch, only the base exception catch, the catch(Exception $e)
exception would be handled there {
//re-throw exception
throw new customException($email);
}
Re-throwing Exceptions }
Sometimes, when an exception is thrown, you may wish to handle it differently catch (customException $e)
than the standard way. It is possible to throw an exception a second time within {
a "catch" block. //display custom message
echo $e->errorMessage();
A script should hide system errors from users. System errors may be important }
for the coder, but is of no interest to the user. To make things easier for the user ?>
you can re-throw the exception with a user friendly message:
Example explained:
WEB PROGRAMMING 45
The code above tests if the email-address contains the string "example" in it, if it Exception: Uncaught Exception occurred
does, the exception is re-thrown:
1. The customException() class is created as an extension of the old In the code above there was no "catch" block. Instead, the top level exception
exception class. This way it inherits all methods and properties from the handler triggered. This function should be used to catch uncaught exceptions.
old exception class
2. The errorMessage() function is created. This function returns an error
message if an e-mail address is invalid
3. The $email variable is set to a string that is a valid e-mail address, but Rules for exceptions
contains the string "example"
4. The "try" block contains another "try" block to make it possible to re-
Code may be surrounded in a try block, to help catch potential exceptions
throw the exception
Each try block or "throw" must have at least one corresponding catch
5. The exception is triggered since the e-mail contains the string "example"
block
6. The "catch" block catches the exception and re-throws a
Multiple catch blocks can be used to catch different classes of exceptions
"customException"
Exceptions can be thrown (or re-thrown) in a catch block within a try
7. The "customException" is caught and displays an error message
block
If the exception is not caught in its current "try" block, it will search for a catch
A simple rule: If you throw something, you have to catch it.
block on "higher levels".
Set a Top Level Exception Handler
The set_exception_handler() function sets a user-defined function to handle all
uncaught exceptions.
<?php PHP Filter
function myException($exception)
{
echo "<b>Exception:</b> " , $exception->getMessage();
} PHP filters are used to validate and filter data coming from insecure
sources, like user input.
set_exception_handler('myException');
throw new Exception('Uncaught Exception occurred');
?> What is a PHP Filter?
The output of the code above should be something like this: A PHP filter is used to validate and filter data coming from insecure sources.
WEB PROGRAMMING 46
To test, validate and filter user input or custom data is an important part of any <?php
web application. $int = 123;
The PHP filter extension is designed to make data filtering easier and quicker. if(!filter_var($int, FILTER_VALIDATE_INT))
{
echo("Integer is not valid");
}
Why use a Filter? else
{
Almost all web applications depend on external input. Usually this comes from a echo("Integer is valid");
user or another application (like a web service). By using filters you can be sure }
your application gets the correct input type. ?>
You should always filter all external data! The code above uses the "FILTER_VALIDATE_INT" filter to filter the variable.
Since the integer is valid, the output of the code above will be: "Integer is valid".
Input filtering is one of the most important application security issues.
If we try with a variable that is not an integer (like "123abc"), the output will be:
What is external data? "Integer is not valid".
Input data from a form For a complete list of functions and filters, visit our PHP Filter Reference.
Cookies
Web services data
Server variables
Database query results Validating and Sanitizing
There are two kinds of filters:
Functions and Filters Validating filters:
To filter a variable, use one of the following filter functions: Are used to validate user input
Strict format rules (like URL or E-Mail validating)
filter_var() - Filters a single variable with a specified filter Returns the expected type on success or FALSE on failure
filter_var_array() - Filter several variables with the same or different
filters Sanitizing filters:
filter_input - Get one input variable and filter it
filter_input_array - Get several input variables and filter them with the Are used to allow or disallow specified characters in a string
same or different filters No data format rules
Always return the string
In the example below, we validate an integer using the filter_var() function:
WEB PROGRAMMING 47
Options and Flags
Options and flags are used to add additional filtering options to the specified
Validate Input
filters.
Let's try validating input from a form.
Different filters have different options and flags.
The first thing we need to do is to confirm that the input data we are looking for
In the example below, we validate an integer using the filter_var() and the exists.
"min_range" and "max_range" options:
Then we filter the input data using the filter_input() function.
<?php
In the example below, the input variable "email" is sent to the PHP page:
$var=300;
$int_options = array( <?php
"options"=>array if(!filter_has_var(INPUT_GET, "email"))
( {
"min_range"=>0, echo("Input type does not exist");
"max_range"=>256 }
) else
); {
if (!filter_input(INPUT_GET, "email",
if(!filter_var($var, FILTER_VALIDATE_INT, $int_options)) FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL))
{ {
echo("Integer is not valid"); echo "E-Mail is not valid";
} }
else else
{ {
echo("Integer is valid"); echo "E-Mail is valid";
} }
?> }
?>
Like the code above, options must be put in an associative array with the name
"options". If a flag is used it does not need to be in an array. Example Explained
Since the integer is "300" it is not in the specified range, and the output of the The example above has an input (email) sent to it using the "GET" method:
code above will be: "Integer is not valid".
1. Check if an "email" input variable of the "GET" type exist
For a complete list of functions and filters, visit our PHP Filter Reference. Check 2. If the input variable exists, check if it is a valid e-mail address
each filter to see what options and flags are available.
WEB PROGRAMMING 48
Filter Multiple Inputs
Sanitize Input A form almost always consist of more than one input field. To avoid calling the
filter_var or filter_input functions over and over, we can use the filter_var_array
Let's try cleaning up an URL sent from a form. or the filter_input_array functions.
First we confirm that the input data we are looking for exists. In this example we use the filter_input_array() function to filter three GET
variables. The received GET variables is a name, an age and an e-mail address:
Then we sanitize the input data using the filter_input() function.
<?php
In the example below, the input variable "url" is sent to the PHP page: $filters = array
(
<?php "name" => array
if(!filter_has_var(INPUT_POST, "url")) (
{ "filter"=>FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING
echo("Input type does not exist"); ),
} "age" => array
else (
{ "filter"=>FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
$url = filter_input(INPUT_POST, "options"=>array
"url", FILTER_SANITIZE_URL); (
} "min_range"=>1,
?> "max_range"=>120
)
),
Example Explained "email"=> FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL,
);
The example above has an input (url) sent to it using the "POST" method:
$result = filter_input_array(INPUT_GET, $filters);
1. Check if the "url" input of the "POST" type exists
2. If the input variable exists, sanitize (take away invalid characters) and if (!$result["age"])
store it in the $url variable {
echo("Age must be a number between 1 and 120.<br />");
If the input variable is a string like this "http://www.W3ååSchøøools.com/", the }
$url variable after the sanitizing will look like this: elseif(!$result["email"])
{
http://www.W3Schools.com/ echo("E-Mail is not valid.<br />");
}
else
{
WEB PROGRAMMING 49
echo("User input is valid"); The function you wish to use to filter is specified the same way as an option is
} specified. In an associative array with the name "options"
?>
In the example below, we use a user created function to convert all "_" to
whitespaces:
Example Explained
<?php
The example above has three inputs (name, age and email) sent to it using the function convertSpace($string)
"GET" method:
{
return str_replace("_", " ", $string);
1. Set an array containing the name of input variables and the filters used on }
the specified input variables
2. Call the filter_input_array() function with the GET input variables and the $string = "Peter_is_a_great_guy!";
array we just set
3. Check the "age" and "email" variables in the $result variable for invalid
echo filter_var($string, FILTER_CALLBACK,
inputs. (If any of the input variables are invalid, that input variable will be
array("options"=>"convertSpace"));
FALSE after the filter_input_array() function)
?>
The second parameter of the filter_input_array() function can be an array or a
single filter ID. The result from the code above should look like this:
If the parameter is a single filter ID all values in the input array are filtered by Peter is a great guy!
the specified filter.
If the parameter is an array it must follow these rules: Example Explained
Must be an associative array containing an input variable as an array key The example above converts all "_" to whitespaces:
(like the "age" input variable)
The array value must be a filter ID or an array specifying the filter, flags 1. Create a function to replace "_" to whitespaces
and options 2. Call the filter_var() function with the FILTER_CALLBACK filter and an array
containing our function
Using Filter Callback
It is possible to call a user defined function and use it as a filter using the
FILTER_CALLBACK filter. This way, we have full control of the data filtering.
You can create your own user defined function or use an existing PHP function
WEB PROGRAMMING 50
WEB PROGRAMMING 51
PHP Database
MySQL Introduction 54
MySQL Connect 55
MySQL Create 56
MySQL Insert 58
MySQL Select 60
MySQL Where 61
MySQL Order By 62
MySQL Update 63
MySQL Delete 64
PHP ODBC 65
WEB PROGRAMMING 52
The table above contains three records (one for each person) and four columns
(LastName, FirstName, Address, and City).
PHP MySQL Introduction
Queries
A query is a question or a request.
MySQL is the most popular open-source database system.
With MySQL, we can query a database for specific information and have a
recordset returned.
What is MySQL? Look at the following query:
MySQL is a database.
SELECT LastName FROM Persons
The data in MySQL is stored in database objects called tables.
The query above selects all the data in the "LastName" column from the
A table is a collections of related data entries and it consists of columns and "Persons" table, and will return a recordset like this:
rows.
LastName
Databases are useful when storing information categorically. A company may
Hansen
have a database with the following tables: "Employees", "Products", "Customers"
and "Orders". Svendson
Pettersen
Database Tables
A database most often contains one or more tables. Each table is identified by a
name (e.g. "Customers" or "Orders"). Tables contain records (rows) with data.
Below is an example of a table called "Persons":
LastName FirstName Address City
Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
WEB PROGRAMMING 53
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
PHP MySQL Connect to a Database {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
// some code
The free MySQL database is very often used with PHP. ?>
Create a Connection to a MySQL Database Closing a Connection
Before you can access data in a database, you must create a connection to the
The connection will be closed automatically when the script ends. To close the
database.
connection before, use the mysql_close() function:
In PHP, this is done with the mysql_connect() function.
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
Syntax
if (!$con)
mysql_connect(servername,username,password); {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
Parameter Description }
servername Optional. Specifies the server to connect to. Default value is // some code
"localhost:3306"
username Optional. Specifies the username to log in with. Default value is mysql_close($con);
the name of the user that owns the server process ?>
password Optional. Specifies the password to log in with. Default is ""
Note: There are more available parameters, but the ones listed above are the
most important. Visit our full PHP MySQL Reference for more details.
Example
In the following example we store the connection in a variable ($con) for later
use in the script. The "die" part will be executed if the connection fails:
<?php
WEB PROGRAMMING 54
PHP MySQL Create Database and Tables echo "Error creating database: " . mysql_error();
}
mysql_close($con);
?>
A database holds one or multiple tables.
Create a Database Create a Table
The CREATE TABLE statement is used to create a table in MySQL.
The CREATE DATABASE statement is used to create a database in MySQL.
Syntax
Syntax
CREATE TABLE table_name
CREATE DATABASE database_name
(
column_name1 data_type,
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial. column_name2 data_type,
column_name3 data_type,
To get PHP to execute the statement above we must use the mysql_query() ....
function. This function is used to send a query or command to a MySQL )
connection.
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial.
Example
We must add the CREATE TABLE statement to the mysql_query() function to
The following example creates a database called "my_db": execute the command.
<?php Example
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con) The following example creates a table named "Persons", with three columns. The
{ column names will be "FirstName", "LastName" and "Age":
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
<?php
if (mysql_query("CREATE DATABASE my_db",$con)) $con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
{ if (!$con)
echo "Database created"; {
} die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
else }
{
WEB PROGRAMMING 55
// Create database A primary key is used to uniquely identify the rows in a table. Each primary key
if (mysql_query("CREATE DATABASE my_db",$con)) value must be unique within the table. Furthermore, the primary key field cannot
{ be null because the database engine requires a value to locate the record.
echo "Database created";
} The following example sets the personID field as the primary key field. The
else primary key field is often an ID number, and is often used with the
{ AUTO_INCREMENT setting. AUTO_INCREMENT automatically increases the value
echo "Error creating database: " . mysql_error(); of the field by 1 each time a new record is added. To ensure that the primary key
} field cannot be null, we must add the NOT NULL setting to the field.
// Create table Example
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con); $sql = "CREATE TABLE Persons
$sql = "CREATE TABLE Persons (
( personID int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
FirstName varchar(15), PRIMARY KEY(personID),
LastName varchar(15), FirstName varchar(15),
Age int LastName varchar(15),
)"; Age int
)";
// Execute query
mysql_query($sql,$con); mysql_query($sql,$con);
mysql_close($con);
?>
Important: A database must be selected before a table can be created. The
database is selected with the mysql_select_db() function.
Note: When you create a database field of type varchar, you must specify the
maximum length of the field, e.g. varchar(15).
The data type specifies what type of data the column can hold. For a complete
reference of all the data types available in MySQL, go to our complete Data Types
reference.
PHP MySQL Insert Into
Primary Keys and Auto Increment Fields
Each table should have a primary key field.
The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new records in a table.
WEB PROGRAMMING 56
}
Insert Data Into a Database Table mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
The INSERT INTO statement is used to add new records to a database table. mysql_query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age)
VALUES ('Peter', 'Griffin', '35')");
Syntax
mysql_query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age)
VALUES ('Glenn', 'Quagmire', '33')");
It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two forms.
mysql_close($con);
The first form doesn't specify the column names where the data will be inserted, ?>
only their values:
INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...)
Insert Data From a Form Into a Database
The second form specifies both the column names and the values to be inserted: Now we will create an HTML form that can be used to add new records to the
"Persons" table.
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3,...)
VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...) Here is the HTML form:
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial. <html>
<body>
To get PHP to execute the statements above we must use the mysql_query()
function. This function is used to send a query or command to a MySQL <form action="insert.php" method="post">
connection. Firstname: <input type="text" name="firstname" />
Lastname: <input type="text" name="lastname" />
Example Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
In the previous chapter we created a table named "Persons", with three columns; </form>
"Firstname", "Lastname" and "Age". We will use the same table in this example.
The following example adds two new records to the "Persons" table: </body>
</html>
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123"); When a user clicks the submit button in the HTML form in the example above, the
if (!$con) form data is sent to "insert.php".
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
WEB PROGRAMMING 57
The "insert.php" file connects to a database, and retrieves the values from the
form with the PHP $_POST variables.
Then, the mysql_query() function executes the INSERT INTO statement, and a
new record will be added to the "Persons" table.
Here is the "insert.php" page:
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
$sql="INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age)
VALUES
('$_POST[firstname]','$_POST[lastname]','$_POST[age]')";
if (!mysql_query($sql,$con))
{
die('Error: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo "1 record added";
mysql_close($con)
?> PHP MySQL Select
The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.
Select Data From a Database Table
The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.
WEB PROGRAMMING 58
Syntax Next, we use the mysql_fetch_array() function to return the first row from the
recordset as an array. Each call to mysql_fetch_array() returns the next row in
SELECT column_name(s)
the recordset. The while loop loops through all the records in the recordset. To
FROM table_name
print the value of each row, we use the PHP $row variable ($row['FirstName'] and
$row['LastName']).
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial.
The output of the code above will be:
To get PHP to execute the statement above we must use the mysql_query()
function. This function is used to send a query or command to a MySQL Peter Griffin
connection. Glenn Quagmire
Example
The following example selects all the data stored in the "Persons" table (The *
character selects all the data in the table): Display the Result in an HTML Table
The following example selects the same data as the example above, but will
<?php
display the data in an HTML table:
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{ <?php
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error()); $con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
} if (!$con)
{
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con); die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Persons");
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{ $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Persons");
echo $row['FirstName'] . " " . $row['LastName'];
echo "<br />"; echo "<table border='1'>
} <tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
mysql_close($con); <th>Lastname</th>
?> </tr>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
The example above stores the data returned by the mysql_query() function in the {
$result variable. echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>" . $row['FirstName'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row['LastName'] . "</td>";
WEB PROGRAMMING 59
echo "</tr>"; Syntax
} SELECT column_name(s)
echo "</table>"; FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value
mysql_close($con);
?>
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial.
The output of the code above will be: To get PHP to execute the statement above we must use the mysql_query()
function. This function is used to send a query or command to a MySQL
Firstname Lastname connection.
Glenn Quagmire
Peter Griffin Example
The following example selects all rows from the "Persons" table where
"FirstName='Peter':
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
PHP MySQL The Where Clause
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE FirstName='Peter'");
The WHERE clause is used to filter records. while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
echo $row['FirstName'] . " " . $row['LastName'];
echo "<br />";
}
The WHERE clause ?>
The WHERE clause is used to extract only those records that fulfill a specified
criterion. The output of the code above will be:
Peter Griffin
WEB PROGRAMMING 60
Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name(s) ASC|DESC
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial.
Example
The following example selects all the data stored in the "Persons" table, and sorts
the result by the "Age" column:
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Persons ORDER BY age");
PHP MySQL Order By Keyword while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
echo $row['FirstName'];
echo " " . $row['LastName'];
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the data in a recordset. echo " " . $row['Age'];
echo "<br />";
}
The ORDER BY Keyword mysql_close($con);
?>
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the data in a recordset.
The output of the code above will be:
The ORDER BY keyword sort the records in ascending order by default.
Glenn Quagmire 33
If you want to sort the records in a descending order, you can use the DESC Peter Griffin 35
keyword.
WEB PROGRAMMING 61
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial.
Order by Two Columns To get PHP to execute the statement above we must use the mysql_query()
function. This function is used to send a query or command to a MySQL
connection.
It is also possible to order by more than one column. When ordering by more
than one column, the second column is only used if the values in the first column
are equal: Example
SELECT column_name(s) Earlier in the tutorial we created a table named "Persons". Here is how it looks:
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2 FirstName LastName Age
Peter Griffin 35
Glenn Quagmire 33
The following example updates some data in the "Persons" table:
<?php
PHP MySQL Update $con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
The UPDATE statement is used to modify data in a table.
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
mysql_query("UPDATE Persons SET Age = '36'
Update Data In a Database WHERE FirstName = 'Peter' AND LastName = 'Griffin'");
mysql_close($con);
The UPDATE statement is used to update existing records in a table.
?>
Syntax
After the update, the "Persons" table will look like this:
UPDATE table_name
SET column1=value, column2=value2,...
WHERE some_column=some_value FirstName LastName Age
Peter Griffin 36
Note: Notice the WHERE clause in the UPDATE syntax. The WHERE clause Glenn Quagmire 33
specifies which record or records that should be updated. If you omit the WHERE
clause, all records will be updated!
WEB PROGRAMMING 62
To get PHP to execute the statement above we must use the mysql_query()
function. This function is used to send a query or command to a MySQL
connection.
Example
Look at the following "Persons" table:
FirstName LastName Age
Peter Griffin 35
Glenn Quagmire 33
The following example deletes all the records in the "Persons" table where
LastName='Griffin':
PHP MySQL Delete
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","peter","abc123");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
The DELETE statement is used to delete records in a table. }
mysql_select_db("my_db", $con);
Delete Data In a Database mysql_query("DELETE FROM Persons WHERE LastName='Griffin'");
mysql_close($con);
The DELETE FROM statement is used to delete records from a database table. ?>
Syntax
After the deletion, the table will look like this:
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE some_column = some_value
FirstName LastName Age
Note: Notice the WHERE clause in the DELETE syntax. The WHERE clause Glenn Quagmire 33
specifies which record or records that should be deleted. If you omit the WHERE
clause, all records will be deleted!
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial.
WEB PROGRAMMING 63
Note that this configuration has to be done on the computer where your web site
is located. If you are running Internet Information Server (IIS) on your own
computer, the instructions above will work, but if your web site is located on a
remote server, you have to have physical access to that server, or ask your web
host to to set up a DSN for you to use.
Connecting to an ODBC
The odbc_connect() function is used to connect to an ODBC data source. The
function takes four parameters: the data source name, username, password, and
an optional cursor type.
The odbc_exec() function is used to execute an SQL statement.
PHP Database ODBC Example
The following example creates a connection to a DSN called northwind, with no
username and no password. It then creates an SQL and executes it:
ODBC is an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows you to
connect to a data source (e.g. an MS Access database). $conn=odbc_connect('northwind','','');
$sql="SELECT * FROM customers";
$rs=odbc_exec($conn,$sql);
Create an ODBC Connection
With an ODBC connection, you can connect to any database, on any computer in Retrieving Records
your network, as long as an ODBC connection is available.
The odbc_fetch_row() function is used to return records from the result-set. This
Here is how to create an ODBC connection to a MS Access Database: function returns true if it is able to return rows, otherwise false.
1. Open the Administrative Tools icon in your Control Panel. The function takes two parameters: the ODBC result identifier and an optional
2. Double-click on the Data Sources (ODBC) icon inside. row number:
3. Choose the System DSN tab.
4. Click on Add in the System DSN tab. odbc_fetch_row($rs)
5. Select the Microsoft Access Driver. Click Finish.
6. In the next screen, click Select to locate the database.
7. Give the database a Data Source Name (DSN).
8. Click OK.
WEB PROGRAMMING 64
Retrieving Fields from a Record if (!$rs)
{exit("Error in SQL");}
The odbc_result() function is used to read fields from a record. This function
echo "<table><tr>";
takes two parameters: the ODBC result identifier and a field number or name.
echo "<th>Companyname</th>";
echo "<th>Contactname</th></tr>";
while (odbc_fetch_row($rs))
The code line below returns the value of the first field from the record:
{
$compname=odbc_result($rs,"CompanyName");
$compname=odbc_result($rs,1); $conname=odbc_result($rs,"ContactName");
echo "<tr><td>$compname</td>";
The code line below returns the value of a field called "CompanyName": echo "<td>$conname</td></tr>";
}
odbc_close($conn);
$compname=odbc_result($rs,"CompanyName"); echo "</table>";
?>
</body>
Closing an ODBC Connection </html>
The odbc_close() function is used to close an ODBC connection.
odbc_close($conn);
An ODBC Example
The following example shows how to first create a database connection, then a
result-set, and then display the data in an HTML table.
<html>
<body>
<?php
$conn=odbc_connect('northwind','','');
if (!$conn)
{exit("Connection Failed: " . $conn);}
$sql="SELECT * FROM customers";
$rs=odbc_exec($conn,$sql);
WEB PROGRAMMING 65
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