What is PHP?

PHP is a server side scripting language. that is used to develop Static websites or Dynamic
websites or Web applications. PHP stands for Hypertext Pre-processor, that earlier stood for
Personal Home Pages.

PHP scripts can only be interpreted on a server that has PHP installed.

The client computers accessing the PHP scripts require a web browser only.

A PHP file contains PHP tags and ends with the extension ".php".

What is a PHP File?

 PHP files can contain text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP code
 PHP code is executed on the server, and the result is returned to the browser as plain
HTML
 PHP files have extension ".php"

What Can PHP Do?

 PHP can generate dynamic page content

 PHP can create, open, read, write, delete, and close files on the server
 PHP can collect form data
 PHP can send and receive cookies
 PHP can add, delete, modify data in your database
 PHP can be used to control user-access
 PHP can encrypt data

With PHP you are not limited to output HTML. You can output images, PDF files, and even
Flash movies. You can also output any text, such as XHTML and XML.

Why PHP?

 PHP runs on various platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.)

 PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)
 PHP supports a wide range of databases
 PHP is free. Download it from the official PHP resource: www.php.net
 PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side

What's new in PHP 7

 PHP 7 is much faster than the previous popular stable release (PHP 5.6)
 PHP 7 has improved Error Handling
 PHP 7 supports stricter Type Declarations for function arguments
 PHP 7 supports new operators (like the spaceship operator: <=> )

What is a Scripting Language?

1
A script is a set of programming instructions that is interpreted at runtime.

A scripting language is a language that interprets scripts at runtime. Scripts are usually
embedded into other software environments.

The purpose of the scripts is usually to enhance the performance or perform routine tasks for
an application.

Server side scripts are interpreted on the server while client side scripts are interpreted by the
client application.

PHP is a server side script that is interpreted on the server while JavaScript is an example of a
client side script that is interpreted by the client browser. Both PHP and JavaScript can be
embedded into HTML pages.

Programming Language Vs Scripting Language

Programming language Scripting language

Has all the features needed to develop complete Mostly used for routine tasks
applications.

The code has to be compiled before it can be executed The code is usually executed without compiling

Does not need to be embedded into other languages Is usually embedded into other software environm

What does PHP stand for?

PHP means - Personal Home Page, but it now stands for the recursive backronym PHP:
Hypertext Preprocessor.

PHP code may be embedded into HTML code, or it can be used in combination with various
web template systems, web content management system and web frameworks.

Php Syntax

A PHP file can also contain tags such as HTML and client side scripts such as JavaScript.

2
  HTML is an added advantage when learning PHP Language. You can even learn
PHP without knowing HTML but it’s recommended you at least know the basics of
HTML.
 Database management systems DBMS for database powered applications.
 For more advanced topics such as interactive applications and web services, you will
need JavaScript and XML.

PHP File Extensions

File extension and Tags In order for the server to identify our PHP files and scripts, we

must save the file with the “.php” extension. Older PHP file extensions include

 .phtml
 .php3
 .php4
 .php5
 .phps

PHP was designed to work with HTML, and as such, it can be embedded into the HTML
code.

Uses of PHP

You have obviously heard of a number of programming languages out there; you may be
wondering why we would want to use PHP as our poison for the web programming. Below
are some of the compelling reasons.

 PHP is open source and free.

 Short learning curve compared to other languages such as JSP, ASP etc.
 Large community document
 Most web hosting servers support PHP by default unlike other languages such as ASP
that need IIS. This makes PHP a cost effective choice.
 PHP is regular updated to keep abreast with the latest technology trends.
 Other benefit that you get with PHP is that it’s a server side scripting language; this
means you only need to install it on the server and client computers requesting for
resources from the server do not need to have PHP installed; only a web browser
would be enough.
 PHP has in built support for working hand in hand with MySQL; this doesn’t
mean you can’t use PHP with other database management systems. You can still use
PHP with
o Postgres
o Oracle
o MS SQL Server
o ODBC etc.
 PHP is cross platform; this means you can deploy your application on a number of
different operating systems such as windows, Linux, Mac OS etc.

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Embedding PHP in HTML : PHP in HTML

PHP is an HTML-embedded server-side scripting language. Much of its syntax is borrowed

from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of
the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly. NTC
Hosting offers its clients high quality PHP and HTML hosting services. Our servers are
configured so as to ensure maximum performance for both your HTML and PHP-based
applications and the non-interruptible functioning of your websites.
PHP Variables

A variable can have a short name (like x and y) or a more descriptive name (age, carname,
total_volume).

Rules for PHP variables:

 A variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the variable

 A variable name must start with a letter or the underscore character
 A variable name cannot start with a number
 A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters and underscores (A-z, 0-
9, and _ )
 Variable names are case-sensitive ($age and $AGE are two different variables)

PHP Data Types

Variables can store data of different types, and different data types can do different things.

PHP supports the following data types:

 String
 Integer
 Float (floating point numbers - also called double)
 Boolean
 Array
 Object
 NULL
 Resource

PHP String

A string is a sequence of characters, like "Hello world!".

A string can be any text inside quotes. You can use single or double quotes:

Example:

<?php 
$x = "Hello world!";
$y = 'Hello world!';

4
echo $x;
echo "<br>"; 
echo $y;
?>

PHP Integer

An integer data type is a non-decimal number between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647.

Rules for integers:

 An integer must have at least one digit

 An integer must not have a decimal point
 An integer can be either positive or negative
 Integers can be specified in: decimal (base 10), hexadecimal (base 16), octal (base 8),
or binary (base 2) notation

In the following example $x is an integer. The PHP var_dump() function returns the data type
and value:

Example:

<?php 
$x = 5985;
var_dump($x);
?>

PHP Float

A float (floating point number) is a number with a decimal point or a number in exponential
form.

In the following example $x is a float. The PHP var_dump() function returns the data type
and value:

Example:

<?php 
$x = 10.365;
var_dump($x);
?>

PHP Boolean

A Boolean represents two possible states: TRUE or FALSE.

$x = true;
$y = false;

5
Booleans are often used in conditional testing. You will learn more about conditional testing
in a later chapter of this tutorial.

PHP Operators

Operators are used to perform operations on variables and values.

PHP divides the operators in the following groups:

 Arithmetic operators
 Assignment operators
 Comparison operators
 Increment/Decrement operators
 Logical operators
 String operators
 Array operators
 Conditional assignment operators

PHP Arithmetic Operators

The PHP arithmetic operators are used with numeric values to perform common arithmetical
operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication etc.

Operator Name Example Result

+ Addition $x + $y Sum of $x and $y

- Subtraction $x - $y Difference of $x and $y

* Multiplication $x * $y Product of $x and $y

/ Division $x / $y Quotient of $x and $y

% Modulus $x % $y Remainder of $x divided by $y

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 ** Exponentiation $x ** $y Result of raising $x to the $y'th

power

PHP Assignment Operators

The PHP assignment operators are used with numeric values to write a value to a variable.

The basic assignment operator in PHP is "=". It means that the left operand gets set to the
value of the assignment expression on the right.

Assignment Same as... Description

x=y x=y The left operand gets set to the value of the expression on the

right

x += y x=x+y Addition

x -= y x=x-y Subtraction

x *= y x=x*y Multiplication

x /= y x=x/y Division

x %= y x=x%y Modulus

PHP Comparison Operators

The PHP comparison operators are used to compare two values (number or string):

7
Operator Name Example Result

== Equal $x == $y Returns true if $x is equal to $y

=== Identical $x === $y Returns true if $x is equal to $y, and they are

of the same type

!= Not equal $x != $y Returns true if $x is not equal to $y

<> Not equal $x <> $y Returns true if $x is not equal to $y

!== Not identical $x !== $y Returns true if $x is not equal to $y, or they
same type

> Greater than $x > $y Returns true if $x is greater than $y

< Less than $x < $y Returns true if $x is less than $y

>= Greater than or equal to $x >= $y Returns true if $x is greater than or equal to

$y

<= Less than or equal to $x <= $y Returns true if $x is less than or equal to $y

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 <=> Spaceship $x <=> $y Returns an integer less than, equal to, or grea

zero, depending on if $x is less than, equal to

or greater than $y.

PHP Increment / Decrement Operators

The PHP increment operators are used to increment a variable's value.

The PHP decrement operators are used to decrement a variable's value.

Operator Name Description

++$x Pre-increment Increments $x by one, then returns $x

$x++ Post-increment Returns $x, then increments $x by one

--$x Pre-decrement Decrements $x by one, then returns $x

$x-- Post-decrement Returns $x, then decrements $x by one

PHP Logical Operators

The PHP logical operators are used to combine conditional statements.

Operator Name Example Result

and And $x and $y True if both $x and $y are true

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 or Or $x or $y True if either $x or $y is true

xor Xor $x xor $y True if either $x or $y is true,

but not both

&& And $x && $y True if both $x and $y are true

|| Or $x || $y True if either $x or $y is true

! Not !$x True if $x is not true

PHP String Operators

PHP has two operators that are specially designed for strings.

Operator Name Example Result

. Concatenation $txt1 . $txt2 Concatenation of $tx

$txt2

.= Concatenation assignment $txt1 .= $txt2 Appends $txt2 to $tx

PHP Array Operators

The PHP array operators are used to compare arrays.

Operator Name Example Result

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 + Union $x + $y Union of $x and $y

== Equality $x == $y Returns true if $x and $y have the same key/value p

=== Identity $x === $y Returns true if $x and $y have the same key/value p
same order and of the same types

!= Inequality $x != $y Returns true if $x is not equal to $y

<> Inequality $x <> $y Returns true if $x is not equal to $y

!== Non-identity $x !== $y Returns true if $x is not identical to $y

PHP Conditional Assignment Operators

The PHP conditional assignment operators are used to set a value depending on conditions:

Operator Name Example Result

?: Ternary $x Returns the value of $x.

= expr1 ? expr2 : expr3 The value of $x is expr2 if expr1 = TRUE.
The value of $x is expr3 if expr1 = FALSE

?? Null coalescing $x = expr1 ?? expr2 Returns the value of $x.

The value of $x is expr1 if expr1 exists, and is not

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 NULL.
If expr1 does not exist, or is NULL, the value of $x
is expr2.
Introduced in PHP 7

PHP Conditional Statements

Very often when you write code, you want to perform different actions for different
conditions.

In PHP we have the following conditional statements:

 if statement - executes some code if one condition is true

 if...else statement - executes some code if a condition is true and another code if that
condition is false
 if...elseif...else statement - executes different codes for more than two conditions
 switch statement - selects one of many blocks of code to be executed

PHP - The if Statement

The if statement executes some code if one condition is true.

Syntax
if (condition) {
    code to be executed if condition is true;
}

Example: Output "Have a good day!" if the current time (HOUR) is less than 20:
<?php
$t = date("H");

if ($t < "20") {
    echo "Have a good day!";
}
?>

PHP - The if...else Statement

The if...else statement executes some code if a condition is true and another code if that
condition is false.

12
Syntax
if (condition) {
    code to be executed if condition is true;
} else {
    code to be executed if condition is false;
}

Example

Output "Have a good day!" if the current time is less than 20, and "Have a good night!"
otherwise:

<?php
$t = date("H");

if ($t < "20") {
    echo "Have a good day!";
} else {
    echo "Have a good night!";
}
?>

PHP - The if...elseif...else Statement

The if...elseif...else statement executes different codes for more than two conditions.

Syntax
if (condition) {
    code to be executed if this condition is true;
} elseif (condition) {
    code to be executed if first condition is false and this condition is true;
} else {
    code to be executed if all conditions are false;
}

Example : Output "Have a good morning!" if the current time is less than 10, and "Have a
good day!" if the current time is less than 20. Otherwise it will output "Have a good night!":
<?php
$t = date("H");

if ($t < "10") {
    echo "Have a good morning!";
} elseif ($t < "20") {
    echo "Have a good day!";
} else {
13
    echo "Have a good night!";
}
?>

The PHP switch Statement

Use the switch statement to select one of many blocks of code to be executed.

Syntax
switch (n) {
    case label1:
        code to be executed if n=label1;
        break;
    case label2:
        code to be executed if n=label2;
        break;
    case label3:
        code to be executed if n=label3;
        break;
    ...
    default:
        code to be executed if n is different from all labels;
}

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
<?php
$favcolor = "red";

switch ($favcolor) {
    case "red":
        echo "Your favorite color is red!";
        break;
    case "blue":
        echo "Your favorite color is blue!";
        break;
    case "green":
        echo "Your favorite color is green!";
        break;
    default:
        echo "Your favorite color is neither red, blue, nor green!";

14
}
?>

PHP Loops

Often when you write code, you want the same block of code to run over and over again a certain
number of times. So, instead of adding several almost equal code-lines in a script, we can use
loops.

Loops are used to execute the same block of code again and again, as long as a certain condition
is true.

In PHP, we have the following loop types:

 while - loops through a block of code as long as the specified condition is true
 do...while - loops through a block of code once, and then repeats the loop as long as the
specified condition is true
 for - loops through a block of code a specified number of times
 foreach - loops through a block of code for each element in an array

The following chapters will explain and give examples of each loop type.

The PHP while Loop

The while loop executes a block of code as long as the specified condition is true.

Syntax
while (condition is true) {
    code to be executed;
}

Examples

The example below displays the numbers from 1 to 5:

Example
<?php 
$x = 1; 

while($x <= 5) {
    echo "The number is: $x <br>";
    $x++;
} 
?>

Example Explained

 $x = 1; - Initialize the loop counter ($x), and set the start value to 1

15
  $x <= 5 - Continue the loop as long as $x is less than or equal to 5
 $x++; - Increase the loop counter value by 1 for each iteration

This example counts to 100 by tens:

Example
<?php 
$x = 0; 

while($x <= 100) {
    echo "The number is: $x <br>";
    $x+=10;
} 
?>

Example Explained

 $x = 0; - Initialize the loop counter ($x), and set the start value to 0
 $x <= 100 - Continue the loop as long as $x is less than or equal to 100
 $x+=10; - Increase the loop counter value by 10 for each iteration

 The do...while loop - Loops through a block of code once, and then repeats the loop
as long as the specified condition is true.

The PHP do...while Loop

 The do...while loop will always execute the block of code once, it will then check the
condition, and repeat the loop while the specified condition is true.

Syntax
do {
    code to be executed;
} while (condition is true);

Examples

 The example below first sets a variable $x to 1 ($x = 1). Then, the do while loop will
write some output, and then increment the variable $x with 1. Then the condition is
checked (is $x less than, or equal to 5?), and the loop will continue to run as long as $x is
less than, or equal to 5:

Example

 <?php 
$x = 1; 

do {

16
     echo "The number is: $x <br>";
    $x++;
} while ($x <= 5);
?>

The PHP for Loop

The for loop is used when you know in advance how many times the script should run.

Syntax
for (init counter; test counter; increment counter) {
    code to be executed for each iteration;
}

Parameters:

 init counter: Initialize the loop counter value

 test counter: Evaluated for each loop iteration. If it evaluates to TRUE, the loop
continues. If it evaluates to FALSE, the loop ends.
 increment counter: Increases the loop counter value

Examples

The example below displays the numbers from 0 to 10:

Example
<?php 
for ($x = 0; $x <= 10; $x++) {
    echo "The number is: $x <br>";
} 
?>

Example Explained

 $x = 0; - Initialize the loop counter ($x), and set the start value to 0
 $x <= 10; - Continue the loop as long as $x is less than or equal to 10
 $x++ - Increase the loop counter value by 1 for each iteration

PHP Functions

The real power of PHP comes from its functions.

PHP has more than 1000 built-in functions, and in addition you can create your own custom
functions.

PHP User Defined Functions

17
Besides the built-in PHP functions, it is possible to create your own functions.

 A function is a block of statements that can be used repeatedly in a program.

 A function will not execute automatically when a page loads.
 A function will be executed by a call to the function.

Create a User Defined Function in PHP

A user-defined function declaration starts with the word function:

Syntax
function functionName() {
    code to be executed;
}

Note: A function name must start with a letter or an underscore. Function names are NOT case-
sensitive.

Tip: Give the function a name that reflects what the function does!

In the example below, we create a function named "writeMsg()". The opening curly brace ( { )
indicates the beginning of the function code, and the closing curly brace ( } ) indicates the end of
the function. The function outputs "Hello world!". To call the function, just write its name
followed by brackets ():

Example
<?php
function writeMsg() {
    echo "Hello world!";
}

writeMsg(); // call the function

?>

PHP Function Arguments

Information can be passed to functions through arguments. An argument is just like a variable.

Arguments are specified after the function name, inside the parentheses. You can add as many
arguments as you want, just separate them with a comma.

The following example has a function with one argument ($fname). When the familyName()
function is called, we also pass along a name (e.g. Jani), and the name is used inside the function,
which outputs several different first names, but an equal last name:

Example
<?php
function familyName($fname) {

18
    echo "$fname Refsnes.<br>";
}

familyName("Jani");
familyName("Hege");
familyName("Stale");
familyName("Kai Jim");
familyName("Borge");
?>

The following example has a function with two arguments ($fname and $year):

Example
<?php
function familyName($fname, $year) {
    echo "$fname Refsnes. Born in $year <br>";
}

familyName("Hege", "1975");
familyName("Stale", "1978");
familyName("Kai Jim", "1983");
?>

PHP is a Loosely Typed Language

In the example above, notice that we did not have to tell PHP which data type the variable is.

PHP automatically associates a data type to the variable, depending on its value. Since the data
types are not set in a strict sense, you can do things like adding a string to an integer without
causing an error.

In PHP 7, type declarations were added. This gives us an option to specify the expected data type
when declaring a function, and by adding the strict declaration, it will throw a "Fatal Error" if the
data type mismatch.

In the following example we try to send both a number and a string to the function without
using strict:

Example
<?php
function addNumbers(int $a, int $b) {
    return $a + $b;
}
echo addNumbers(5, "5 days"); 
// since strict is NOT enabled "5 days" is changed to int(5), and it will return 10
?>

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To specify strict we need to set declare(strict_types=1);. This must be on the very first line of the
PHP file.

In the following example we try to send both a number and a string to the function, but here we
have added the strict declaration:

Example
<?php declare(strict_types=1); // strict requirement

function addNumbers(int $a, int $b) {

    return $a + $b;
}
echo addNumbers(5, "5 days"); 
// since strict is enabled and "5 days" is not an integer, an error will be thrown
?>

PHP Default Argument Value

The following example shows how to use a default parameter. If we call the function setHeight()
without arguments it takes the default value as argument:

Example
<?php declare(strict_types=1); // strict requirement
function setHeight(int $minheight = 50) {
    echo "The height is : $minheight <br>";
}

setHeight(350);
setHeight(); // will use the default value of 50
setHeight(135);
setHeight(80);
?>

PHP Functions - Returning values

To let a function return a value, use the return statement:

Example
<?php declare(strict_types=1); // strict requirement
function sum(int $x, int $y) {
    $z = $x + $y;
    return $z;
}

echo "5 + 10 = " . sum(5, 10) . "<br>";

echo "7 + 13 = " . sum(7, 13) . "<br>";

20
echo "2 + 4 = " . sum(2, 4);
?>

PHP Return Type Declarations

PHP 7 also supports Type Declarations for the return statement. Like with the type declaration for
function arguments, by enabling the strict requirement, it will throw a "Fatal Error" on a type
mismatch.

To declare a type for the function return, add a colon ( : ) and the type right before the opening
curly ( {)bracket when declaring the function.

In the following example we specify the return type for the function:

Example
<?php declare(strict_types=1); // strict requirement
function addNumbers(float $a, float $b) : float {
    return $a + $b;
}
echo addNumbers(1.2, 5.2); 
?>

You can specify a different return type, than the argument types, but make sure the return is the
correct type:

Example
<?php declare(strict_types=1); // strict requirement
function addNumbers(float $a, float $b) : int {
    return (int)($a + $b);
}
echo addNumbers(1.2, 5.2); 
?>

PHP Arrays

An array stores multiple values in one single variable:

Example
<?php
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
echo "I like " . $cars[0] . ", " . $cars[1] . " and " . $cars[2] . ".";
?>

What is an Array?

An array is a special variable, which can hold more than one value at a time.

21
If you have a list of items (a list of car names, for example), storing the cars in single variables
could look like this:

$cars1 = "Volvo";
$cars2 = "BMW";
$cars3 = "Toyota";

However, what if you want to loop through the cars and find a specific one? And what if you had
not 3 cars, but 300?

The solution is to create an array!

An array can hold many values under a single name, and you can access the values by referring to
an index number.

Create an Array in PHP

In PHP, the array() function is used to create an array:

array();

In PHP, there are three types of arrays:

 Indexed arrays - Arrays with a numeric index

 Associative arrays - Arrays with named keys
 Multidimensional arrays - Arrays containing one or more arrays

Get The Length of an Array - The count() Function

The count() function is used to return the length (the number of elements) of an array:

Example
<?php
$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");
echo count($cars);
?>

22