Introduction to

PHP Tutorial For Beginners

www.genial-code.com
 Science
Science Calculations
Calculations

System
System
System
System

CC uses
uses curly
curly
braces
braces { }} for
{ for
code
code blocks.
blocks.
Scripting/
Scripting/
Interpreted
Interpreted
About the PHP Language
• Syntax inspired by C
- Curly braces, semicolons, no signficant whitespace

• Syntax inspired by perl

- Dollar signs to start variable names, associative
arrays

• Extends HTML to add segments of PHP within an

HTML file
 Philosophy of PHP
• You are a responsible and intelligent
programmer.

• You know what you want to do.

• Some flexibility in syntax is OK - style choices are

OK.

• Let’s make this as convenient as possible.

• Sometimes errors fail silently.

<h1>Hello from Dr. Chuck's HTML Page</h1>
<p>
<?php
echo "Hi there.\n";
$answer = 6 * 7;
echo "The answer is $answer, what ";
echo "was the question again?\n";
?>
</p>
<p>Yes another paragraph.</p>
<h1>Hello from Dr. Chuck's HTML Page</h1>
<p>
<?php
echo "Hi there.\n";
$answer = 6 * 7;
echo "The answer is $answer, what ";
echo "was the question again?\n";
?>
</p>
<p>Yes another paragraph.</p>
 PHP from the Command
Line
• You can run PHP from <?php
the command line - the echo("Hello World!");
output simply comes echo("\n");
out on the terminal. ?>

• It does not have to be

part of a request-
response cycle.
Basic Syntax
 Keywords
Abstract and array() as break case catch
class clone const continue declare default
do else elseif end declare endfor
endforeach endif endswitch endwhile
extends final for foreach function global
goto if implements interface instanceof
namespace new or private protected public
static switch $this throw try use var while
xor
 Variable Names
• Start with a dollar sign ($) followed by a letter or
underscore, followed by any number of letters,
numbers, or underscores

• Case matters

$abc = 12; abc = 12;

$total = 0; $2php = 0;
$largest_so_far = 0; $bad-punc = 0;

http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.basics.php
Variable Name Weirdness
Things that look like variables but are missing a
dollar sign can be confusing.

$x = 2; $x = 2;
$y = x + 5; y = $x + 5;
print $y; print $x;

5 Parse error
Variable Name Weirdness
Things that look like variables but are missing a
dollar sign as an array index are unpredictable....

$x = 5;
$y = array("x" => "Hello");
print $y[x];

Hello
 Strings / Different +
Awesome
• String literals can use single quotes or double quotes.

• The backslash (\) is used as an “escape” character.

• Strings can span multiple lines - the newline is part of

the string.

• In double-quoted strings, variable values are

expanded.

• Concatenation is the "." not "+" (more later).

http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php
<?php Double Quote
echo "this is a simple string\n";

echo "You can also have embedded newlines in

strings this way as it is
okay to do";

// Outputs: This will expand:

// a newline
echo "This will expand: \na newline";

// Outputs: Variables do 12
$expand = 12;
echo "Variables do $expand\n";
<?php
Single Quote
echo 'this is a simple string';

echo 'You can also have embedded newlines in

strings this way as it is
okay to do';

// Outputs: Arnold once said: "I'll be back"

echo 'Arnold once said: "I\'ll be back"';

// Outputs: This will not expand: \n a newline

echo 'This will not expand: \n a newline';

// Outputs: Variables do not $expand $either

echo 'Variables do not $expand $either';
 Comments in PHP 
echo 'This is a test'; // This is a c++ style comment
/* This is a multi line comment
yet another line of comment */
echo 'This is yet another test';
echo 'One Final Test'; # This is a shell-style comment

http://php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.comments.php
 Output
• echo is a language construct
<?php
$x = "15" + 27;
- can be treated like a echo $x;
function with one parameter. echo("\n");
Without parentheses, it echo $x, "\n";
accepts multiple parameters. print $x;
print "\n";
• print is a function - only one print($x);
parameter, but parentheses print("\n");
are optional so it can look ?>
like a language construct.
Expressions
 Expressions
• Completely normal like other languages ( + - / * )

• More agressive implicit type conversion

<?php
$x = "15" + 27;
echo($x); 42
echo("\n");
?>
 Expressions
• Expressions evaluate to a value. The value can
be a string, number, boolean, etc.

• Expressions often use operations and function

calls. There is an order of evaluation when there
is more than one operator in an expression.

• Expressions can also produce objects like arrays.

 Operators of Note
• Increment / Decrement ( ++ -- )

• String concatenation ( . )

• Equality ( == != )

• Identity ( === !== )

• Ternary ( ? : )

• Side-effect Assignment ( += -= .= etc.)

• Ignore the rarely-used bitwise operators ( >> << ^

|&)
 Increment / Decrement
• These operators allow you to both retrieve and
increment / decrement a variable.

• They are generally avoided in civilized code.

$x = 12;
$y = 15 + $x++; x is 13 and y is 27
echo "x is $x and y is $y \n";
 Increment / Decrement
• These operators allow you to both retrieve and
increment / decrement a variable.

• They are generally avoided in civilized code.

$x = 12;
$y = 15 + $x; x is 13 and y is 27
$x = $x + 1;
echo "x is $x and y is $y \n";
 String Concatenation
PHP uses the period character for concatenation,
because the plus character would instruct PHP to do
the best it could to add the two things together,
converting if necessary.

$a = 'Hello ' . 'World!'; Hello World!

echo $a . "\n";
 Ternary
The ternary operator comes from C. It allows
conditional expressions. It is like a one-line if-then-
else. Like all “contraction” syntaxes, we must use it
carefully.
$www = 123;
$msg = $www > 100 ? "Large" : "Small" ;
echo "First: $msg \n";
$msg = ( $www % 2 == 0 ) ? "Even" : "Odd";
echo "Second: $msg \n"; First: Large
$msg = ( $www % 2 ) ? "Odd" : "Even";
Second: Odd
echo "Third: $msg \n";
Third: Odd
 Side-Effect Assignment
These are pure contractions. Use them sparingly.
echo "\n";
$out = "Hello";
$out = $out . " ";
$out .= "World!";
$out .= "\n"; Hello World!
echo $out; Count: 1
$count = 0;
$count += 1;
echo "Count: $count\n";
 Conversion / Casting
As PHP evaluates expressions, sometimes values in the
expression need to be converted from one type to
another as the computations are done.

• PHP does aggressive implicit type conversion

(casting).

• You can also make type conversion (casting)

explicit with casting operators.
 Casting In PHP, division forces
operands to be floating
point. PHP converts
$a = 56; $b = 12; expression values
$c = $a / $b;
silently and agressively.
echo "C: $c\n";
$d = "100" + 36.25 + TRUE;
echo "D: ". $d . "\n";
echo "D2: ". (string) $d . "\n"; C: 4.66666666667
$e = (int) 9.9 - 1; D: 137.25
echo "E: $e\n"; D2: 137.25
$f = "sam" + 25; E: 8
echo "F: $f\n";
F: 25
$g = "sam" . 25;
echo "G: $g\n";
G: sam25
 PHP vs. Python
$x = "100" + 25; x = int("100") + 25
echo "X: $x\n"; print "X:", x
$y = "100" . 25; y = "100" + str(25)
echo "Y: $y\n"; print "Y:", y
$z = "sam" + 25; z = int("sam") + 25
echo "Z: $z\n"; print "Z:", z

X: 125 X: 125
Y: 10025 Y: 10025
Z: 25 Traceback:"cast.py", line 5
z = int("sam") + 25;
ValueError: invalid literal
 Casting
The concatenation operator
tries to convert its operands to
strings.
echo "A".FALSE."B\n"; TRUE becomes an integer 1
echo "X".TRUE."Y\n"; and then becomes a string.
FALSE is “not there” - it is even
“smaller” than zero, at least
AB when it comes to width.
X1Y
 Equality versus Identity
The equality operator (==) in PHP is far more
agressive than in most other languages when it
comes to data conversion during expression
evaluation.

if ( 123 == "123" ) print ("Equality 1\n");

if ( 123 == "100"+23 ) print ("Equality 2\n");
if ( FALSE == "0" ) print ("Equality 3\n");
if ( (5 < 6) == "2"-"1" ) print ("Equality 4\n");
if ( (5 < 6) === TRUE ) print ("Equality 5\n");
http://php.net/manual/en/function.strpos.php
 $vv = "Hello World!";
echo "First:" . strpos($vv, "Wo") . "\n";
echo "Second: " . strpos($vv, "He") . "\n";
echo "Third: " . strpos($vv, "ZZ") . "\n";
if (strpos($vv, "He") == FALSE ) echo "Wrong A\n";
if (strpos($vv, "ZZ") == FALSE ) echo "Right B\n";
if (strpos($vv, "He") !== FALSE ) echo "Right C\n";
if (strpos($vv, "ZZ") === FALSE ) echo "Right D\n";
print_r(FALSE); print FALSE;
echo "Where were they?\n"; First:6
Second: 0
Third:
Wrong A
Right B
Right C
Beware FALSE variables. They are detectable but not visible...
Right D
Where were they?
Control Structures
 Conditional - if
• Logical operators ( == != < > <= >= && || ! )

• Curly braces

<?php
$ans = 42;
if ( $ans == 42 ) {
print "Hello world!\n";
} else {
print "Wrong answer\n"; Hello World!
}
?>
 Whitespace Does Not
<?php
Matter
$ans = 42;
if ( $ans == 42 ) {
print "Hello world!\n";
} else {
print "Wrong answer\n";
}
?>

<?php $ans = 42; if ( $ans == 42 ) { print

"Hello world!\n"; } else { print "Wrong answer\n"; }
?>
 Which Style do You Prefer?
<?php
$ans = 42;
<?php if ( $ans == 42 )
$ans = 42; {
if ( $ans == 42 ) { print "Hello world!\n";
print "Hello world!\n"; }
} else { else
print "Wrong answer\n"; {
} print "Wrong answer\n";
?> }
Aesthetics ?>
Multi-way x<2
yes
print 'Small'

$x = 7; no
yes
if ( $x < 2 ) {
x<10 print 'Medium'
print "Small\n";
} elseif ( $x < 10 ) { no
print "Medium\n";
} else { print 'LARGE'
print "LARGE\n";
}

print "All done\n";

print 'All Done'
 Curly Braces are Not
Required
if ($page == "Home") echo "You selected Home";
elseif ($page == "About") echo "You selected About";
elseif ($page == "News") echo "You selected News";
elseif ($page == "Login") echo "You selected Login";
elseif ($page == "Links") echo "You selected Links";

if ($page == "Home") { echo "You selected Home"; }

elseif ($page == "About") { echo "You selected About"; }
elseif ($page == "News") { echo "You selected News"; }
elseif ($page == "Login") { echo "You selected Login"; }
elseif ($page == "Links") { echo "You selected Links"; }
 $fuel = 10;
while ($fuel > 1) {
print "Vroom vroom\n";
}

A while loop is a “zero-trip”

$fuel = 10;
loop with the test at the top
before the first iteration
while ($fuel > 1) {
starts. We hand construct print "Vroom vroom\n";
the iteration variable to $fuel = $fuel - 1;
implement a counted loop. }
$count = 1;
do {
echo "$count times 5 is " . $count * 5;
echo "\n";
} while (++$count <= 5);

A do-while loop is a “one- 1 times 5 is 5

trip” loop with the test at 2 times 5 is 10
the bottom after the first 3 times 5 is 15
iteration completes. 4 times 5 is 20
5 times 5 is 25
for($count=1; $count<=6; $count++ ) {
echo "$count times 6 is " . $count * 6;
echo "\n";
} 1 times 6 is 6
2 times 6 is 12
3 times 6 is 18
A for loop is the simplest way 4 times 6 is 24
to construct a counted loop. 5 times 6 is 30
6 times 6 is 36
 Loop runs while TRUE (top-test)
Run after each iteration.
Before loop starts

for($count=1; $count<=6; $count++ ) {

echo "$count times 6 is " . $count * 6;
echo "\n";
} 1 times 6 is 6
2 times 6 is 12
3 times 6 is 18
A for loop is the simplest way 4 times 6 is 24
to construct a counted loop. 5 times 6 is 30
6 times 6 is 36
 Breaking Out of a Loop
• The break statement ends the current loop and jumps to
the statement immediately following the loop.

• It is like a loop test that can happen anywhere in the

body of the loop.

for($count=1; $count<=600; $count++ ) { Count: 1

if ( $count == 5 ) break; Count: 2
echo "Count: $count\n"; Count: 3
} Count: 4
echo "Done\n"; Done
 Finishing an Iteration with
continue
The continue statement ends the current iteration. jumps to
the top of the loop, and starts the next iteration.

Count: 1
for($count=1; $count<=10; $count++ ) { Count: 3
if ( ($count % 2) == 0 ) continue; Count: 5
echo "Count: $count\n"; Count: 7
} Count: 9
echo "Done\n"; Done
 Summary
This is a sprint through some of
the unique language features of
PHP.