What is PHP:- PHP is an open-source, interpreted, and object-oriented scripting language that can
be executed at the server-side. PHP is well suited for web development. Therefore, it is used to
develop web applications (an application that executes on the server and generates the dynamic
page.).
PHP was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994 but appeared in the market in 1995. The current stable
version of PHP is PHP 8.4, with the latest point release 8.4.10, officially released on July 3, 2025.
Some important points need to be noticed about PHP are as followed:
PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor.
PHP is an interpreted language, i.e., there is no need for compilation.
PHP is faster than other scripting languages, for example, ASP and JSP.
PHP is a server-side scripting language, which is used to manage the dynamic content of the
website.
PHP can be embedded into HTML.
PHP is an object-oriented language.
PHP is an open-source scripting language.
PHP is simple and easy to learn language.
Features of PHP
Open Source: PHP is an open-source language, which means anyone can use it freely without
paying for a license. You can download its source code, study it, and even modify it to suit your
project needs. This makes PHP a cost-effective choice for students and developers.
Server-Side Scripting: PHP runs on the server, not in the user's browser. When someone visits a
webpage that uses PHP, the code is processed on the server, and the result (usually HTML) is sent
to the browser. This makes PHP suitable for tasks like login systems, data handling, and file
processing.
Platform Independent: PHP works across different operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and
macOS. It also supports major web servers like Apache and Nginx. This means you can run PHP
scripts on almost any setup without needing to change your code.
Easy to Learn and Use: PHP has a simple and clean syntax, making it easy for beginners to learn. If
you're familiar with C, Java, or JavaScript, you'll find PHP very readable. Even complex tasks can
often be completed in just a few lines of PHP code.
Fast Execution: PHP is known for its fast execution time, especially when compared to other
server-side scripting languages. It is lightweight and performs well, which helps in building
responsive and fast-loading web applications.
Database Support: PHP can connect to almost any database, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite,
Oracle, and MongoDB. This allows developers to store and retrieve data easily. PHP has built-in
functions and libraries to manage database operations smoothly.
Extensive Library and Framework Support: PHP has a wide range of built-in libraries and supports
many powerful frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter. These tools help speed up
development and encourage clean, structured code.
Security Features: PHP provides many features to help write secure code, such as input validation,
data sanitization, password hashing, and prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks.
While security also depends on the developer, PHP provides all the tools needed to build safe
applications.
Large Community and Documentation: PHP has a huge global community, which means it's easy
to find help, tutorials, forums, and shared code. The official PHP documentation is also extensive
and beginner-friendly, making it easier for students to learn and find solutions.
Dynamic Content Creation: PHP can be used to create dynamic content on web pages. For
example, it can display different messages based on user input, pull data from a database, or
manage forms. This makes it very useful for creating interactive websites.
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP): PHP supports object-oriented programming, allowing
developers to create classes, objects, and reusable code. OOP makes PHP suitable for large and
complex applications where organization and reusability are important.
R Strings: a sequence of characters is known as string. A string can include letters, numbers, spaces,
or special symbols. You create a string by putting characters inside quotes (either single ' ' or
double " "). However, R always stores strings using double quotes.
1. Creation of String in R : R Strings can be created by assigning character values to a variable. These
strings can be further concatenated by using various functions and methods to form a big string.
str1 <- "OK1"
cat ("String 1 is : ", str1)
str2 <- 'OK2'
cat ("String 2 is : ", str2)
str3 <- "This is 'acceptable and 'allowed' in R"
cat ("String 3 is : ", str3)
str4 <- 'Hi, Wondering "if this "works"'
cat ("String 4 is : ", str4)
2. Length of String : The length of strings indicates the number of characters present in the string.
We are going use two functions to determine the length of the given string. Ie.
a) Using the str_length() function: The function str_length() belonging to the 'string' package. It
can be used to determine the length of strings.
library(stringr)
str_length("hello")
Output
5
b) Using nchar() function: nchar() is a inbuilt function of R and can be used to determine the length
of strings in R.
nchar("hel'lo")
Output
6
3. Accessing portions of an R string : In R, you can get or change parts of a string using indexing. The
built-in functions substr() and substring() help you extract or replace parts of a string by giving the
start and end positions.
a) Using substr() function : If the starting index is equal to the ending index, the corresponding
character of the string is accessed.
substr("Learn Code Tech", 1, 1)
Output
"L"
b) Using substring() function : Here, the number of characters in the string is 10. The first print
statement prints the last character of the string, "e", which is str[10]. The second print statement
prints the 11th character of the string, which doesn't exist, but the code doesn't throw an error and
print "", that is an empty character.
str <- "Learn Code"
len <- nchar(str)
print (substring(str, len, len))
print (substring(str, len+1, len+1))
Output
[1] "e"
str <- "Learn Code"
len <- nchar(str)
print(substr(str, 1, 4))
print(substr(str, len-2, len))
Output
[1]"Lear"
[1]"ode"
The first print statement prints the first four characters of the string. The second print statement
prints the substring from the indexes 8 to 10, which is "ode".
4. Case Conversion: The R string characters can be converted to upper or lower case by R's inbuilt
function
toupper() converts all the characters to upper case
tolower() converts all the characters to lower case
casefold(..., upper=TRUE/FALSE) converts on the basis of the value specified to the upper
argument.
str <- "Hi LeArn CodiNG"
print(toupper(str))
print(tolower(str))
print(casefold(str, upper = TRUE))
Output
[1] "HI LEARN CODING"
[1] "hi learn coding"
[1] "HI LEARN CODING"
5. Concatenation of R Strings: We can concatenate strings using paste() function.
In this example, we first create two strings "Hello" and "World" and store them in the
variables string1 and string2, respectively. We then use the paste() function to concatenate the two
strings together with a space between them and store the result in the variable result. Finally, we
use the print function to print the value of result to the console.
string1 <- "Hello"
string2 <- "World"
result <- paste(string1, string2)
print(result)
Output
"Hello World"
6. String formatting : String formatting in R is performed using the sprintf function.
In this example, we format a string with two decimal places using the %d format specifier for the
integer value x and the %.2f format specifier for the floating-point value y. The prepared string is
saved in the variable result before being written to the console using the print function. The solution
is 42, and pi is 3.14, which is the formatted string with x and y values substituted for the format
specifiers.
x <- 42
y <- 3.14159
result <- sprintf("The answer is %d, and pi is %.2f.", x, y)
print(result)
Output
[1] "John is 35 years old and 1.80 meters tall."
7. Updating the Strings : The characters, as well as substrings of a string, can be manipulated to new
string values. The changes are reflected in the original string.
string <- "Hello, World!"
string <- gsub("World", "Universe", string)
print(string)
Output
"Hello, Universe!"
