Chapter 1

Getting Started with PHP

PHP Programming with MySQL

2nd Edition
 Objectives
In this chapter you will:
• Create PHP scripts
• Create PHP code blocks
• Work with variables and constants
• Study data types
• Use expressions and operators

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 2

 Creating Basic PHP Scripts
• Embedded language refers to code that is
embedded within a Web page (XHTML document)
• PHP code is typed directly into a Web page as
a separate section
• A Web page containing PHP code must be saved
with an extension of .php to be processed by the
scripting engine
• PHP code is never sent to a client’s Web browser;
only the output of the processing is sent to the
browser
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 3
 Creating Basic PHP Scripts
(continued)
• The Web page generated from the PHP code,
and XHTML elements found within the PHP file,
is returned to the client
• A PHP file that does not contain any PHP code
should be saved with an .html extension
• .php is the default extension that most Web
servers use to process PHP scripts

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 4

 Creating PHP Code Blocks
• Code declaration blocks are separate sections
on a Web page that are interpreted by the
scripting engine
• There are four types of code declaration blocks:
– Standard PHP script delimiters
– The <script> element
– Short PHP script delimiters
– ASP-style script delimiters

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 5

 Standard PHP Script Delimiters
• A delimiter is a character or sequence of
characters used to mark the beginning and end
of a code segment
• The standard method of writing PHP code
declaration blocks is to use the <?php ?> script
delimiters
• The individual lines of code that make up a PHP
script are called statements

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 6

 The <script> Element
• The <script> element identifies a script
section in a Web page document
• Assign a value of "php" to the language attribute
of the <script> element to identify the code
block as PHP

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 7

 Short PHP Script Delimiters
• The syntax for the short PHP script delimiters is
<? statements; ?>
• Short delimiters can be disabled in a Web
server’s php.ini configuration file
• PHP scripts will not work if your Web site ISP
does not support short PHP script delimiters
• Short delimiters can be used in XHTML
documents, but not in XML documents

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 8

 ASP-Style Script Delimiters
• The syntax for the ASP-style script delimiters is
<% statements; %>
• ASP-style script delimiters can be used in
XHTML documents, but not in XML documents
• ASP-style script delimiters can be enabled or
disabled in the php.ini configuration file
• To enable or disable ASP-style script delimiters,
assign a value of “On” or “Off ” to the asp_tags
directive in the php.ini configuration file
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 9
 Understanding Functions
• A function is a subroutine (or individual statements
grouped into a logical unit) that performs a specific task
– To execute a function, you must invoke, or call, it
from somewhere in the script
• A function call is the function name followed by
any data that the function needs
• The data (in parentheses following the function
name) are called arguments [or actual parameters
• Sending data to a called function is called passing
arguments

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 10

 Displaying Script Results
• The echo and print statements are language
constructs (built-in features of a programming
language) that create new text on a Web page
that is returned as a response to a client
• The text passed to the echo statement is called
a “literal string” and must be enclosed in either
single or double quotation marks
• To pass multiple arguments to the echo
statement, separate the statements with
commas
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 11
 Displaying Script Results
(continued)
• Use the echo and print statements to return
the results of a PHP script within a Web page
that is returned to a client
• The print statement returns a value of 1 if
successful or a value of 0 if not successful, while
the echo statement does not return a value

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Creating Multiple Code Declaration
Blocks
• For multiple script sections in a document,
include a separate code declaration block for
each section
...
</head>
<body>
<h1>Multiple Script Sections</h1>
<h2>First Script Section</h2>
<?php echo "<p>Output from the first script section.</p>";
?>
<h2>Second Script Section</h2>
<?php echo "<p>Output from the second script
section.</p>";?>
</body>
</html>

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 13

Creating Multiple Code Declaration
Blocks (continued)
• PHP code declaration blocks execute on a Web
server before a Web page is sent to a client
...
</head>
<body>
<h1>Multiple Script Sections</h1>
<h2>First Script Section</h2>
<p>Output from the first script section.</p>
<h2>Second Script Section</h2>
<p>Output from the second script section.</p>
</body>
</html>

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 14

Creating Multiple Code Declaration
Blocks (continued)

Figure 1-9 Output of a document with two PHP script sections

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 15

Creating Multiple Code Declaration
Blocks (continued)

Figure 1-10 PHP Environment Information Web page

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 16

 Case Sensitivity in PHP
• Programming language constructs in PHP are
mostly case insensitive

<?php
echo "<p>Explore <strong>Africa</strong>, <br />";
Echo "<strong>South America</strong>, <br />";
ECHO " and <strong>Australia</strong>!</p>";
?>

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 17

 Adding Comments to a PHP Script
• Comments are nonprinting lines placed in code
that do not get executed, but provide helpful
information, such as:
– The name of the script
– Your name and the date you created the program
– Notes to yourself
– Instructions to future programmers who might
need to modify your work

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 18

 Adding Comments to a PHP Script
(continued)
• Line comments hide a single line of code
– Add // or # before the text
• Block comments hide multiple lines of code
– Add /* to the first line of code
– And */ after the last character in the code

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 Adding Comments to a PHP Script
(continued)
<?php
/*
This line is part of the block comment.
This line is also part of the block comment.
*/
echo "<h1>Comments Example</h1>"; // Line comments can
follow
code statements
// This line comment takes up an entire line.
# This is another way of creating a line comment.
/* This is another way of creating
a block comment. */
?>

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 Using Variables and Constants
• The values stored in computer memory are called
variables
• The values, or data, contained in variables are
classified into categories known as data types
• The name you assign to a variable is called an
identifier
• An identifier must begin with a dollar sign ($), may
not include a number or underscore as the first
character, cannot include spaces, and is case
sensitive
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 21
 Displaying Variables
• To display a variable with the echo statement,
pass the variable name to the echo
statement without enclosing it in quotation marks:
$VotingAge = 18;
echo $VotingAge;
• To display both text strings and variables, send
them to the echo statement as individual
arguments, separated by commas:
echo "<p>The legal voting age is ",
$VotingAge, ".</p>";
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 22
 Naming Variables
• The name you assign to a variable is called an
identifier
• The following rules and conventions must be
followed when naming a variable:
– Identifiers must begin with a dollar sign ($)
– Identifiers may contain uppercase and lowercase
letters, numbers, or underscores (_). The first
character after the dollar sign must be a letter.
– Identifiers cannot contain spaces
– Identifiers are case sensitive

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 Declaring and Initializing Variables
• Specifying and creating a variable name is
called declaring the variable
• Assigning a first value to a variable is called
initializing the variable
• In PHP, you must declare and initialize a
variable in the same statement:
$variable_name = value;

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 Displaying Variables

Figure 1-11 Output from an echo statement

that is passed text and a variable

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 25

 Displaying Variables (continued)
• The output of variable names inside a text string
depends on whether the string is surrounded by
double or single quotation marks

Figure 1-12 Output of an echo statement that includes text and a

variable surrounded by single quotation marks

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 26

 Modifying Variables
• You can modify a variable’s value at any point in a
script
$SalesTotal = 40;
echo "<p>Your sales total is
$$SalesTotal</p>";
$SalesTotal = 50;
echo "<p>Your new sales total is
$$SalesTotal</p>";

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 Defining Constants
• A constant contains information that does not
change during the course of program execution
• Constant names do not begin with a dollar sign
($)
• Constant names use all uppercase letters
• Use the define() function to create a constant
define("CONSTANT_NAME", value);
• The value you pass to the define() function
can be a text string, number, or Boolean value

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 Working with Data Types
• A data type is the specific category of
information that a variable contains
• Data types that can be assigned only a single
value are called primitive types

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 Working with Data Types
(continued)
• The PHP language supports:
– A resource data type – a special variable that
holds a reference to an external resource such
as a database or XML file
– Reference or composite data types, which
contain multiple values or complex types of
information
– Two reference data types: arrays and objects

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 Working with Data Types
(continued)
• Strongly typed programming languages
require you to declare the data types of
variables
• Static or strong typing refers to data types that
do not change after they have been declared
• Loosely typed programming languages do
not require you to declare the data types of
variables
• Dynamic or loose typing refers to data types
that can change after they have been declared
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 31
 Numeric Data Types
• PHP supports two numeric data types:
– An integer is a positive or negative number and 0
with no decimal places (-250, 2, 100, 10,000)
– A floating-point number is a number that
contains decimal places or that is written in
exponential notation (-6.16, 3.17, 2.7541)
• Exponential notation, or scientific notation, is a
shortened format for writing very large numbers or
numbers with many decimal places (2.0e11)

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 Boolean Values
• A Boolean value is a value of TRUE or FALSE
• It decides which part of a program should
execute and which part should compare data
• In PHP programming, you can only use TRUE or
FALSE Boolean values
• In other programming languages, you can use
integers such as 1 = TRUE, 0 = FALSE

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 Arrays
• An array contains a set of data represented by a
single variable name

Figure 1-17 Conceptual example of an array

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 34

 Declaring and Initializing Indexed
Arrays
• An element refers to each piece of data that is
stored within an array
• An index is an element’s numeric position within
the array
– By default, indexes begin with the number zero
(0)
– An element is referenced by enclosing its index in
brackets at the end of the array name:
$Provinces[1]

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 35

 Declaring and Initializing Indexed
Arrays (continued)
• The array() construct syntax is:
$array_name = array(values);
$Provinces = array(
"Newfoundland and Labrador", 0
"Prince Edward Island", 1
"Nova Scotia", 2
"New Brunswick",3
"Quebec",3
"Ontario",5
"Manitoba",5
"Saskatchewan",6
"Alberta",8
"British Columbia”9
);

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 36

 Declaring and Initializing Indexed
Arrays (continued)
• Array name and brackets syntax is:
$array_name[ ]
$Provinces[] = 1
$Provinces[] = ‘A’;
$Provinces[] = "Nova Scotia";
$Provinces[] = "New Brunswick";
$Provinces[] = "Quebec";
$Provinces[] = "Ontario";
$Provinces[] = "Manitoba";
$Provinces[] = "Saskatchewan";
$Provinces[] = "Alberta";
$Provinces[] = "British Columbia";
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 37
 Accessing Element Information
(continued)
echo "<p>Canada's smallest province is
$Provinces[1].<br />";
echo "Canada's largest province is
$Provinces[4].</p>";

Figure 1-18 Output of elements in the $Provinces[] array

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 38
 Accessing Element Information
(continued)
• Use the count() function to find the total
number of elements in an array
$Provinces = array("Newfoundland and Labrador", "Prince
Edward
Island", "Nova Scotia", "New Brunswick", "Quebec",
"Ontario", " Manitoba", "Saskatchewan", "Alberta", "British
Columbia");

$Territories = array("Nunavut", "Northwest Territories",

"Yukon
Territory");

echo "<p>Canada has ", count($Provinces), " provinces and

",
count($Territories), " territories.</p>";

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 39

 Accessing Element Information
(continued)

Figure 1-19 Output of the count() function

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 40

 Accessing Element Information
(continued)
• Use the print_r(), var_dump() or
var_export() functions to display or return
information about variables
– The print_r() function displays the index and
value of each element in an array
– The var_dump() function displays the index,
value, data type and number of characters in the
value
– The var_export() function is similar to
var_dump() function except it returns valid
PHP code
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 41
 Accessing Element Information
(continued)

Figure 1-21 Output of the $Provinces[ ] array with the

print_r() function

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 42

 Modifying Elements
• To modify an array element. include the index
for an individual element of the array:
$HospitalDepts = array(
"Anesthesia", // first element(0)
"Molecular Biology", // second element (1)
"Neurology"); // third element (2)

To change the first array element in the

$HospitalDepts[] array from “Anesthesia” to
“Anesthesiology” use:
$HospitalDepts[0] = "Anesthesiology";

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 43

 Avoiding Assignment Notation
Pitfalls
• Assigns the string “Hello” to a variable named
$list
$list = "Hello"; int no=2;
• Assigns the string “Hello” to a new element
appended to the end of the $list array
$list[] = "Hello";
• Replaces the value stored in the first element
(index 0) of the $list array with the string “Hello”
$list[0] = "Hello";

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 44

 Building Expressions
• An expression is a literal value or variable that
can be evaluated by the PHP scripting engine to
produce a result
• Operands are variables and literals contained in
an expression
• A literal is a static value such as a literal string
or a number
• Operators are symbols (+) (*) that are used in
expressions to manipulate operands

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 45

 Building Expressions (continued)

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 46

 Building Expressions (continued)

• A binary operator requires an operand before

and after the operator
– $MyNumber = 100;

• A unary operator requires a single operand

either before or after the operator

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 47

 Arithmetic Operators
• Arithmetic operators are used in PHP to
perform mathematical calculations (+ - x ÷)

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 Arithmetic Operators (continued)

Figure 1-22 Results of arithmetic expressions

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 49
 Arithmetic Operators (continued)
$DivisionResult = 15 / 6;
$ModulusResult = 15 % 6;
echo "<p>15 divided by 6 is
$DivisionResult.</p>"; // prints '2.5'
echo "The whole number 6 goes into 15 twice, with a
remainder of $ModulusResult.</p>"; // prints '3'

Figure 1-23 Division and modulus expressions

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 Arithmetic Binary Operators

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 51

 Arithmetic Unary Operators
• The increment (++) and decrement (--) unary
operators can be used as prefix or postfix
operators
• A prefix operator is placed before a variable
• A postfix operator is placed after a variable

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 52

Arithmetic Unary Operators (continued)

Figure 1-24 Script that uses the prefix

increment operator

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 53

Arithmetic Unary Operators (continued)

Figure 1-25 Output of the prefix version of the student ID script

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 54

Arithmetic Unary Operators (continued)

Figure 1-26 Script that uses the postfix increment operator

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 55

Arithmetic Unary Operators (continued)

Figure 1-27 Output of the postfix version of the student ID script

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 56

 Assignment Operators
• Assignment operators are used for assigning
a value to a variable:
$MyFavoriteSuperHero = "Superman";
$MyFavoriteSuperHero = "Batman";
• Compound assignment operators perform
mathematical calculations on variables and
literal values in an expression, and then assign
a new value to the left operand

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 57

 Assignment Operators (continued)

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 58

 Comparison and Conditional
Operators
• Comparison operators are used to compare two
operands and determine how one operand
compares to another
• A Boolean value of TRUE or FALSE is returned after
two operands are compared
• The comparison operator compares values,
whereas the assignment operator assigns values
• Comparison operators are used with conditional
statements and looping statements

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 59

 Comparison and Conditional
Operators (continued)

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 60

 Comparison and Conditional
Operators (continued)
• The conditional operator executes one of two
expressions, based on the results of a
conditional expression
• The syntax for the conditional operator is:
conditional expression ? expression1 :
expression2;
• If the conditional expression evaluates to TRUE,
expression1 executes
• If the conditional expression evaluates to FALSE,
expression2 executes

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 61

 Comparison and Conditional
Operators (continued)
$BlackjackPlayer1 = 20;
($BlackjackPlayer1 <= 21) ? $Result =
"Player 1 is still in the game. " : $Result =
"Player 1 is out of the action.";
echo "<p>", $Result, "</p>";

Figure 1-31 Output of a script with a conditional operator

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 62

 Logical Operators
• Logical operators are used for comparing two
Boolean operands for equality
• A Boolean value of TRUE or FALSE is returned
after two operands are compared

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 63

 Special Operators

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 64

 Type Casting
• Casting or type casting copies the value
contained in a variable of one data type into a
variable of another data type
• The PHP syntax for casting variables is:
$NewVariable = (new_type) $OldVariable;
• (new_type) refers to the type-casting operator
representing the type to which you want to cast
the variable

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 Type Casting (continued)
• Returns one of the following strings, depending
on the data type:
– Boolean
– Integer
– Double
– String
– Array
– Object
– Resource
– NULL
– Unknown type
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 66
 Understanding Operator
Precedence
• Operator precedence refers to the order in
which operations in an expression are evaluated
• Associativity is the order in which operators of
equal precedence execute
• Associativity is evaluated on a left-to-right or a
right-to-left basis

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 Understanding Operator
Precedence (continued)

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 68

 Summary
• JavaScript and PHP are both referred to as
embedded languages because code for both
languages is embedded within a Web page
(either an HTML or XHTML document)
• You write PHP scripts within code declaration
blocks, which are separate sections within a
Web page that are interpreted by the scripting
engine
• The individual lines of code that make up a PHP
script are called statements
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 69
 Summary (continued)
• The term, function, refers to a procedure (or
individual statements grouped into a logical unit)
that performs a specific task
• Comments are lines that you place in code to
contain various types of remarks, including the
name of the script, your name and the date you
created the program, notes to yourself, or
instructions to future programmers who might
need to modify your work
– Comments do not display in the browser
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 70
 Summary (continued)
• The values a program stores in computer
memory are commonly called variables
• The name you assign to a variable is called an
identifier
• A constant contains information that cannot
change during the course of program execution
• A data type is the specific category of
information that a variable contains
• PHP is a loosely-typed programming language
PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 71
 Summary (continued)
• An integer is a positive or negative number or
zero, with no decimal places
• A floating-point number contains decimal places
or is written in exponential notation
• A Boolean value is a logical value of TRUE or
FALSE
• An array contains a set of data represented by a
single variable name

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 72

 Summary (continued)
• An expression is a single literal value or
variable or a combination of literal values,
variables, operators, and other expressions that
can be evaluated by the PHP scripting engine to
produce a result
• Operands are variables and literals contained in
an expression. A literal is a value such as a
string or a number.

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 73

 Summary (continued)
• Operators are symbols used in expressions to
manipulate operands, such as the addition
operator (+) and multiplication operator (*)
• A binary operator requires an operand before
and after the operator
• A unary operator requires a single operand
either before or after the operator

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 74

 Summary (continued)
• Arithmetic operators are used in the PHP
scripting engine to perform mathematical
calculations, such as addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division
• Assignment operators are used for assigning a
value to a variable
• Comparison operators are used to determine
how one operand compares with another

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 75

 Summary (continued)
• The conditional operator executes one of two
expressions, based on the results of a
conditional expression
• Logical operators are used to perform
operations on Boolean operands
• Casting or type casting creates an equivalent
value in a specific data type for a given value
• Operator precedence is the order in which
operations in an expression are evaluated

PHP Programming with MySQL, 2nd Edition 76