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

 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

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

PHP 5.6)
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 expre
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):

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

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, o

the 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 $x >= $y Returns true if $x is greater than or e

equal to

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

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

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

xor Xor $x xor $y True if either $x or $y is tr

both

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

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

! 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 o

$txt2

.= Concatenation assignment $txt1 .= $txt2 Appends $txt2 t

PHP Array Operators

The PHP array operators are used to compare arrays.

Operator Name Example Result

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

== Equality $x == $y Returns true if $x and $y have the same

=== Identity $x === $y Returns true if $x and $y have the same

 the 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

Create a PHP Constant

To create a constant, use the define() function.

Syntax
define(name, value, case-insensitive)

Parameters:

 name: Specifies the name of the constant

 value: Specifies the value of the constant
 case-insensitive: Specifies whether the constant name should be case-
insensitive. Default is false

The example below creates a constant with a case-sensitive name:

Example
<?php
define("GREETING", "Welcome to W3Schools.com!");
echo GREETING;
?>

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!';

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 three formats: decimal (10-based),
hexadecimal (16-based - prefixed with 0x) or octal (8-based - prefixed
with 0)

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);
?>

Run example »

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;

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

PHP Array
An array stores multiple values in one single variable.

In the following example $cars is an array. The PHP var_dump() function

returns the data type and value:

Example
<?php
$cars = array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");
var_dump($cars);
?>
PHP Object
An object is a data type which stores data and information on how to process
that data.

In PHP, an object must be explicitly declared.

First we must declare a class of object. For this, we use the class keyword. A
class is a structure that can contain properties and methods:

Example
<?php
class Car {
function Car() {
$this->model = "VW";
}
}

// create an object
$herbie = new Car();

// show object properties

echo $herbie->model;
?>

PHP NULL Value

Null is a special data type which can have only one value: NULL.

A variable of data type NULL is a variable that has no value assigned to it.

Tip: If a variable is created without a value, it is automatically assigned a

value of NULL.

Variables can also be emptied by setting the value to NULL:

Example
<?php
$x = "Hello world!";
$x = null;
var_dump($x);
?>

Creating (Declaring) PHP Variables

In PHP, a variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the variable:

Example
<?php
$txt = "Hello world!";
$x = 5;
$y = 10.5;
?>

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)