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Unit 1 PHP Detailed Explanation

Unit 1 introduces PHP, a server-side scripting language designed for web development, highlighting its features, syntax, and structure. Key topics include variables, data types, control structures, loops, and best practices for coding. Understanding these fundamentals is crucial for progressing to more advanced PHP concepts.

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4 views5 pages

Unit 1 PHP Detailed Explanation

Unit 1 introduces PHP, a server-side scripting language designed for web development, highlighting its features, syntax, and structure. Key topics include variables, data types, control structures, loops, and best practices for coding. Understanding these fundamentals is crucial for progressing to more advanced PHP concepts.

Uploaded by

parasf0909
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO PHP (Highly Detailed Explanation)

1. What is PHP?

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used, open-source, general-purpose scripting language

that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. It is executed on

the server, and the output is sent to the client browser in plain HTML format. PHP was originally

created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. It started as a set of CGI scripts for tracking website visitors and

evolved into a full-fledged language.

Why use PHP?

- Easy to learn for beginners

- Efficient for professionals

- Integrates well with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

- Offers powerful database connectivity (especially MySQL)

- Secure and scalable

2. Features of PHP

- Open Source: Freely available

- Simplicity: Clean syntax, similar to C/JavaScript

- Platform Independent: Runs on Windows, Linux, Unix, macOS

- Database Support: Native support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, etc.

- Server-Side Execution

- Error Reporting

- Large Community

- Secure and Scalable

3. PHP Syntax

PHP scripts are enclosed within <?php ?> tags.


Example:

<?php

echo "Hello, world!";

?>

You can mix HTML and PHP together:

<html>

<body>

<h2>Today is:</h2>

<?php

echo date("l, d F Y");

?>

</body>

</html>

4. Structure of a PHP Program

- Opening Tags: <?php

- Variable Declarations: $number = 10;

- Control Structures (if, switch, loops)

- Functions

- Output Statements: echo "Result: " . $number;

- Closing Tag (Optional)

5. PHP Variables

PHP is a loosely typed language.

Declaration:

$var1 = "Welcome";

$var2 = 123;
Rules:

- Start with $

- Start with letter or underscore

- No special characters or spaces

- Case-sensitive

6. Data Types in PHP

- String: "Hello"

- Integer: 100

- Float: 10.5

- Boolean: true, false

- Array: ["apple", "banana"]

- Object: new ClassName()

- NULL: NULL

- Resource: fopen()

7. Comments in PHP

- Single-line: // or #

- Multi-line: /* ... */

8. Output Statements

- echo: echo "Hello!";

- print: print "Hello!";

Note: echo is faster and can take multiple parameters.

9. PHP Operators

- Arithmetic: +, -, *, /, %
- Assignment: =, +=, -=

- Comparison: ==, ===, !=

- Logical: &&, ||, !

- String: . (concatenation)

10. Conditional Statements

- if, if-else, if-elseif-else

- switch statement for multi-condition checking

11. Loops in PHP

- for: for ($i = 1; $i <= 5; $i++)

- while: while ($i <= 5)

- do-while

- foreach: for arrays

12. Nesting of Loops

Useful for matrices and multi-dimensional data.

Example:

for ($i = 1; $i <= 3; $i++) {

for ($j = 1; $j <= 3; $j++) {

echo "$i x $j = " . $i*$j;

13. Error Reporting in PHP

Use error_reporting(E_ALL); and ini_set("display_errors", 1); to enable error visibility during

development.
14. Best Practices

- Use === instead of ==

- Validate inputs

- Use prepared statements

- Comment code properly

- Separate logic and presentation

15. Real-World Use Case: Form Handling

<form method="post" action="welcome.php">

Name: <input type="text" name="name">

<input type="submit">

</form>

welcome.php:

<?php

$name = $_POST['name'];

echo "Welcome, $name!";

?>

Conclusion:

Unit 1 covers core PHP elements like syntax, variables, data types, conditionals, loops, and

structure. Mastering these is essential for advanced PHP topics.

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