PHP - Writing PHP Scripts & Using Variables R. Berdan: Prerequisites To Complete This Module

PHP – Writing PHP scripts & using Variables R.
Berdan
(Lastupdated Jan 27, 2005)
Prerequisites to complete this module:
1) Access to a server running PHP

2) Alternatively install Apache server and PHP on Windows
3) Need to know how to code some basic HTML
4) Need to download and install FTP program and learn how to upload and
download files to a server
5) Each student should have their own account on a server running PHP
1.1 Introduction
PHP is a server side, HTML embedded, cross platform scripting language. It was
first called Personal Home Page in 1994, but was later changed (for marketing
reasons) to Hypertext Preprocessor language. It was originally created by
Rasmus Ledorf to track the visitors to his online resume. The language has
since been extended considerably, and the current version is 5.0 The syntax of
the language is based on C, Java and Perl.
There are several reasons why you might want to learn this scripting
language:
1) runs faster than CGI, ASP or JSP

2) It’s free and widely supported (ask your Internet Provider)
3) It is easier to learn than Perl and other server side scripting languages
Here is a list of some of the things you can use PHP for:
1) Create access counters

2) Process forms, send to e-mail, text file or database
3) Permit visitors to upload files to your server
4) Create calendars
5) Create Bulletin Board messaging systems
6) Create mailing lists
7) Create Shopping carts and online auctions
8) Create web site search engines
9) Create games
10) Post News
11) Create instant messaging services
12) Pass word protect a site
13) Allow users to create and edit web page through the web
14) Create Guest books
15) Store and retrieve information in the form of cookies
16) Conduct surveys or take votes on the web
1
To use PHP you need to know how to code in HTML, how to FTP your files to
a host account, and the host account must support PHP. Many, but not all
hosting companies offer PHP because of its many advantages and it is free.
Because it is a scripting language, you do not need to compile the script – simply
embed the scripts inside your HTML page and\or create standalone php pages
and upload them to the sever. Other scripting languages e.g. javascript can also
be embedded into HTML – however, the main difference between the two is that
javascript is a client side scripting language and PHP is a server side scripting
language. Certain things such as processing of forms, counters etc. require a
server side component – and PHP can fill this function. PHP was written
specifically for making dynamic web sites. Using Active server pages (ASP)
requires an understanding of VB scripting and using CGI requires knowledge of
Perl. Finally, PHP is not limited to creating only web pages but can be used to
make standalone programs, generate graphics and PDF files on the fly.
Finally: PHP is a service that the web server has to provide. Most free web-page
hosts, and ISPs giving space will not support PHP. In Calgary Telus does
support PHP, but SHAW does not . Shaw’s tech service indicated – security as
the main reason. PHP can run anywhere and can be used to create SPAM –
multiple e-mails send to large list of people.
Free Hosting with PHP site: http://www.free-webspace.ca (Jan 2005)
Creating PHP – all you need is Notepad or any simple text editor. You can also
use a variety of programmers, text editors that are freely available on the Net.
1) First PHP page; Open notepad and type in the code below.
<html>
<head>
<title>My first PHP script</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
print “Hello World”;

phpinfo();
?>
</body>
</html>
2
Save this page as firstfile.php, then open up an FTP tool like WS_FTP and
upload the file to a PHP enable server. Type in the URL/file.php and the script
will display inside your web browser. You may want to put the scripts into a
subfolder called php in which case add the file path e.g.
www.scienceandart.org/php/firstfile.php - next page see the screen shot.
At the top left of the browser window is the text “Hello World” and several tables
with the PHP version running on your machine.
If you did not see this screen - make sure:
1) Your server is in fact PHP enabled (turned On Control

panel>Administrative tools>Personal Web Manager (PWM)– Click on the
PWM and check if a button in the Main window says stop – then it is on, if
not click on the button to turn your PWM on and retest your script.
3
2) make sure added a semicolon to the end of both lines “;” - this is
essential
3) Check for any other errors you might have made in either your HTML or
php script, upload and try again.
If you don’t have an FTP program, I recommend you download WS_FTP from
http://www.ftpplanet.com/ - select the LE English version – it is free for students.
You will need to know our host URL, 1) ftp address 2) ftp user identification and
3) ftp password for your account or one provided for you.
If you are running server software on your machine you can download and install
PHP and run the scripts locally.
1. 2 PHP syntax
To embed PHP inside HTML you need to include the start and end tags
<?php
statements;
?>
Above is the most common way to insert php, there are other methods but the
php.ini file must be configured to permit the alternative coding tags e.g.
ASP style
<%
statements;
%>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="php">
statements;
</SCRIPT>
I recommend using the first method and will use them exclusively in the
course i.e. <?php statements; ?>
4
In the script we wrote
phpinfo();
This is a built in function that returns the current version of php running on the
server. In PHP functions are not case sensitive and this could be written as
PHPINFO(): or Phpinfo();
Sending a TEXT to the browser window
<?php
print “Hello World”;
?>
There are several methods for doing this:
print "Hello world <br />";

echo "This is the echo statement <br />";
print ("this used brackets<br />");
the parentheses are not required so I don’t normally use them, the <br /> tag
simply adds a carriage return - it is an HTML break tag, it is not required it only
ensures that each statement is on a separate line when displayed in the browser.
Printf( format [args]) is frequently used to output currency values with two
decimal places. E.g. try the following inside your php tags
<?php
$amount = 24.3956;
printf ("%01.2f", $amount);
?>
The “”%01.2f” tells PHP to print $amount using 0 to pad extra spaces, with 1 digit
to the left of the decimal and 2 digits to the right of the decimal output = 24.40
Change to printf(“%04.3f”, “$amount); output = 0024.396.
To add the $ sign to the amount use printf(“$%04.2f”, $amount); output =

$0024.40
5
Embedding HTML inside print statements
<?php
print “<center><h1>I am Canadian</h1></center>”;
?>
<?php
print “<font size=\”7\”>I am Canadian</font>”;
?>
HTML tags that require quotation marks must be escaped using the backslash
(“\”), the is will print the quotation instead of interpreting it.
SEMICOLONS are mandatory at the end of statements!
One of the most common mistakes by beginning programmers is to leave the

semicolons out at the end of the statements. In javascript, semicolons are
optional but not in PHP!
While semicolons must always be added to the end of PHP statements NEVER
put a semicolon at the end of a conditional test e.g. if (age > 16); or a loop e.g.
for (i=0; i>4; i++); - if you do it will result in an error.
WHITESPACE
White space is generally (but not universally) ignored and any blank line or
spaces, or tab is ignored.
NEW LINE Command \n
<?php
print “I am Canadian! \n”);
print “What Nationality are you?”;
?>
\n new line command, \t tab – visible when viewing data in wordpad
6
<html>
<head>
<title>Adding a backslash</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
print "I am Canadian! \n";

print "What Nationality are you?";
?>
</body>
</html>
save as addingbackslash.php - type in URL and run the script. What did you
see? You should have seen all the text in one line without a break! \n only adds
space in a text file or e-mail not HTML. If you want to add space in HTML you will
need to add a break tage <br> at the end of the statement inside the quotes.
Note the script works fine without the additional HTML around the code.
We will return to this command later when we send text to an email address or a
text file on the server
Adding a TAB \t will add tabs to your php scripts to create spacing in text files
(not HTML pages). \r carriage return; \t tab
COMMENTS
Putting in comments is essential in many programs even to the original

programmer who may forget what their train of thought was when they made the
program and have to return to the script several weeks or months later to modify
or update the script. DO NOT put semicolons at the end of your comments.
There are 3 ways to add comments to PHP
<?php
// single line comment

/* multiline comment
is done the same way
as it is in javascript */
# comment follows a hash like in Perl
Try it – add several comments, upload and preview the page.
7
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<?php
print "I am Canadian! <br>\n";

print "What Nationality are you?";
// single line comment

# this is another way to leave a single line comment
/* multiline comment on 2 or more lines
is done the same way in javascript
*/
?>
</body>
</html>
Save upload file and run script then select View Source code in the browser -
you should see the following code below. Note the php tags are not visible, the
comments are not visible – they are only readable in the original text file.
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
I am Canadian! <br>
What Nationality are you?
</body>
</html>
CASE - variable names are case sensitive in PHP, but not the functions.
8
<?php
PHPINFO():
phpinfo();
PhpInfo();
?>
All of these will yield the same result
1.3 HOW PHP WORKS
Viewer requests a PHP page or link ---- the Server → PHP → HTML → Client
A call to the server to the file.php , the PHP file is parsed and creates an HTML
page dynamically and sends it back to the client . For this reason the php script is
not visible,nor are the comments since the script is parsed on the server then
sent to the browser. Javascript in contrast executes or parses within the browser
on the client’s computer – not the server.
See Text L. Ullman PHP for the World Wide Web, page XIV for a diagram that
shows how PHP works.
9
1.4 PHP Variables (See Chapter 2 in Text book)
Variables are names we provide to access data stored in the computers memory.
Rules for naming variables in PHP
1. All variable names are preceeded with a $sign e.g. $variablename

2. Variable names are case sensitive
3. Variables names must include A-Z, a-z or the underscore character
4. Variables names can not contain spaces or special characters e.g.
\, ?, * etc
5. You do not need to declare a variable before using it (loosely typed)
6. You do not have to initialize the variable before using it
7. No size limit on the number of characters a variable name can have
Examples of valid variable names:
$color
$operating_system
$_modelnumber
Examples of invalid variable names:
$this&that can not add symbol &

$!encounter can not add symbol !
$4infinity can not have a number preceed
Types of Variables in PHP
1. Numbers integers (1, -2), floating point (2.03), scientific notation – but not
fractions (1\4) e.g. scientific notation 0.314E2 = 31.4
2. Strings – text e.g. $name = “Fred”; or name=’Fred’; single quote different
result – PHP will output $name - i.e. the variable name not the value.
3. Booleans – true, false (true=1, false=0)
4. Objects – PHP Objects are data types that allow for storeage of the data
and also the information on how to process it. Data elements = properties,
how to process data = methods
5. Predefined variables (environment variables) – built in.
6. Arrays – multiple values associated with a single variable name
10
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<?php
$FirstName = "Fred";
print "Hello $FirstName<br>";
// prints to the browser Hello Fred
print 'Hello $FirstName <br>';

// prints Hello $FirstName;
print “Hello \$FirstName <br>”;

// prints Hello $FirstName escaped the variablename
?>
</body>
</html>
Note the difference between using single & Double Quotes !
<?php
$actor = "Marlon Brando";

print "$actor";
// prints Marlon Brando
echo $actor;
// also prints Marlon Brando
print $actor;
// also prints Marlon Brando
print '$actor';
// prints $actor
?>
Everything stored $variablename = “4” becomes a string even numbers
11
Type Casting
Casting involves forcing a variable to behave as a specific variable type. This is

accomplished by placing the intended type in front of the variable to be cast. A
type can be cast by inserting (type) in front of the variables.
Cast Operators Conversion

(int) or (integer) Integer
(real) (double) or (float) Double (float)
(string) String
(array) Array
(object) Object
Example
<?php
$variable1 = "4.0";
$variable2= 5;
$variable3 = (int)$variable1 + (string)$variable2;
print "$variable3"; // outputs 9
?>
<?php
$variable1 = "4.0";
$variable2= 5;
$variable3 = (string)$variable1 + (string)$variable2;
print "$variable3"; // still outputs 9 because of the + symbol, try . symbol
// you should see a value of 4.05 with dot concatenation symbol
?>
<?php
$variable1 = 4.0;
$variable2= 5;
$variable3 = $variable1 * $variable2;
print "$variable3"; // outputs 20 even if you type cast values as strings
?>
12
<?php
$variable1 = 15.6;
$variable2 = (int)$variable1;
print “$variable2”;
// outputs 15 converts number to integer
?>
<?php
$variable1 = 5;
$variable2="100 bottles of beer on the wall";
$variable3 = $variable1 + $variable2;
print "$variable3"; // output 105!
?>
The reason is that the PHP parser determines the type by looking at only the
initial part of a string. If you were to change $variable2 = “ There are 100 bottles
of beer on the wall”; it will output a value of 5 because the string would evaluate
to 0.
<?php
$variable1 = 3;
$variable2= 5.4;
$variable3 = $variable1 + $variable2;
print "$variable3"; // converts to float or double and outputs 8.4!
?>
This behavior of the variables is called “Type Juggling”.
Variable Variables
On occasion is useful to make use of variables whose contents can be treated

dynamically as a variable itself.
$recipe = “spaghetti;
$$recipe = “& meatballs”; /* this assigns “& meatballs” to a variable named
spagehetti*/
print $recipe . “ “ . $$recipe;
// prints spagehetti & meatballs
13
Predefined Variables (also called Environment Variables).
Predefined variables provide the developer with information about the
server configuration. PHP creates some of the variables while others are
created depending on the operating system and web server PHP is running. The
variables are always typed in CAPS. You can view them using phpinfo();
14
Determine your server IP address:
<?php
print "Hi you IP address is: $REMOTE_ADDR";
?>
Try printing to the screen don’t forget to add $
$OS - to determine your operating system

$HTTP_USER_AGENT - to determine the browser type
$COMPUTER_NAME – to determine the name of the computer on a network
Constants
A constant is a value that cannot be modified through out the execution of the
program. In PHP, constants are defined use the define() function. Once defined it
can not be changed (or redefined) at any other point of the program.
E.g. define (“Pi”, “3.141592”)
<?php
define("Pi", "3.14592");
print "The value of Pi is " . Pi ; // don’t forget . concat symbol before Pi
?>
Another Example of defining a constant – a constant is referred to without

quotes.
<?php
define ("Freezing_Point", "0 celsius");
print "Freezing_Point";
// this will print the variable name Freezing_Point
?>
<?php
define ("Freezing_Point", "0 celsius");
print Freezing_Point;
// This will print 0 celsius!
?>
15
PHP has several functions to determine the current data type of a variable –
specifically gettype() and settype()
<?php
$number =" 5.0";

echo gettype($number)
// string
?>
<?php
$number = 5.0;
// double
?>
<?php
$number = 5;
// integer
?>
Isset, unset, empty Functions
isset() determines whether a variable has been created – it is used frequently to

determine whether a person has submitted a form e.g.
isset($submit) ; // checks to see if submit button has been clicked on.

unset($number); // destroys a variable and releases the memory allocated to it
empty($number); // returns 1 or ture if there is no variableor the variable =0;
In Summary
Two things in using variables that are quite different in PHP than javascript:
1) Variables enclosed within double quotes are still treated as variables not
strings
2) Variables surround by single quotes or have an escape character before
them “ \ “ will be displayed as the $variable name not the variable value.
16
Exercise working with PHP variables :
<html>
<head>
<title>Convert</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
$Enginetype = "2.0L";
$Taxrate = 3;
$Taxpaid = $Enginetype * $Taxrate;
print "Engine Type: $Enginetype<br>";
print "Tax Rate: $Taxrate<br>";
print "Tax Paid: $Taxpaid";
?>
</body>
</html>
What will the output be?
Answer:
Engine Type: 2.0L

Tax Rate: 3
Tax Paid: 6
Explanation
PHP does not care that there is an L in the variable $Enginetype – it simply grabs
the value of 2.0 at the beginning of the data and uses it for the calculation.
17

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PHP – Writing PHP scripts & using Variables R.

Prerequisites to complete this module:

1) Access to a server running PHP

1) runs faster than CGI, ASP or JSP

1) Create access counters

Free Hosting with PHP site: http://www.free-webspace.ca (Jan 2005)

print “Hello World”;

www.scienceandart.org/php/firstfile.php - next page see the screen shot.

If you did not see this screen - make sure:

1) Your server is in fact PHP enabled (turned On Control

Sending a TEXT to the browser window

print “Hello World”;

There are several methods for doing this:

print "Hello world <br />";

To add the $ sign to the amount use printf(“$%04.2f”, $amount); output =

print “<center><h1>I am Canadian</h1></center>”;

print “<font size=\”7\”>I am Canadian</font>”;

SEMICOLONS are mandatory at the end of statements!

One of the most common mistakes by beginning programmers is to leave the

NEW LINE Command \n

\n new line command, \t tab – visible when viewing data in wordpad

print "I am Canadian! \n";

Putting in comments is essential in many programs even to the original

There are 3 ways to add comments to PHP

// single line comment

Try it – add several comments, upload and preview the page.

print "I am Canadian! <br>\n";

// single line comment

All of these will yield the same result

1.3 HOW PHP WORKS

Rules for naming variables in PHP

1. All variable names are preceeded with a $sign e.g. $variablename

Examples of valid variable names:

Examples of invalid variable names:

$this&that can not add symbol &

Types of Variables in PHP

print 'Hello $FirstName <br>';

print “Hello \$FirstName <br>”;

Note the difference between using single & Double Quotes !

$actor = "Marlon Brando";

Everything stored $variablename = “4” becomes a string even numbers

Casting involves forcing a variable to behave as a specific variable type. This is

Cast Operators Conversion

This behavior of the variables is called “Type Juggling”.

On occasion is useful to make use of variables whose contents can be treated

Try printing to the screen don’t forget to add $

$OS - to determine your operating system

E.g. define (“Pi”, “3.141592”)

Another Example of defining a constant – a constant is referred to without

$number =" 5.0";

Isset, unset, empty Functions

isset() determines whether a variable has been created – it is used frequently to

isset($submit) ; // checks to see if submit button has been clicked on.

What will the output be?

Engine Type: 2.0L

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