Introduction to php

What is PHP?
 PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
 PHP is a widely-used, open source scripting
language
 PHP scripts are executed on the server
 PHP is free to download and use

What is a PHP File?
 PHP files can contain text, HTML, JavaScript code,
and PHP code
 PHP code are executed on the server, and the result
is returned to the browser as plain HTML
 PHP files have a default file extension of ".php"

What Can PHP Do?
 PHP can generate dynamic page content
 PHP can create, open, read, write, and close files on
the server
 PHP can collect form data
 PHP can send and receive cookies
 PHP can add, delete, modify data in your database
 PHP can restrict users to access some pages on
your website
 PHP can encrypt data

Why PHP?
 PHP runs on different platforms (Windows, Linux,
Unix, Mac OS X, etc.)
 PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today
(Apache, IIS, etc.)
 PHP has support for a wide range of databases
 PHP is free. Download it from the official PHP
resource: www.php.net
 PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the
server side

Set Up PHP on Your Own PC
 However, if your server does not support PHP, you
must:
 install a web server
 install PHP
 install a database, such as MySQL
 The official PHP website (PHP.net) has installation
instructions for
PHP: http://php.net/manual/en/install.php

Basic PHP Syntax
A PHP script can be placed anywhere in the
document. A PHP script starts with <?php and ends
with ?>:
<?php
// PHP code goes here
?>
The default file extension for PHP files is ".php".

Comments in PHP
 Example
<html>
<body>
<?php
//This is a PHP comment line
/*
This is a PHP comment
block
*/
?>
</body>
</html>

PHP Variables
 Variable can have short names (like x and y) or more
descriptive names (age, carname, totalvolume).
 Rules for PHP variables:
 A variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of
the variable
 A variable name must begin with a letter or the
underscore character
 A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric
characters and underscores (A-z, 0-9, and _ )
 A variable name should not contain spaces
 Variable names are case sensitive ($y and $Y are two
different variables)

Creating (Declaring) PHP Variables
 PHP has no command for declaring a variable.
 A variable is created the moment you first assign a
value to it:
 $txt="Hello world!";
$x=5;
 After the execution of the statements above, the
variable txt will hold the value Hello world!, and the
variable xwill hold the value 5.
 Note: When you assign a text value to a variable,
put quotes around the value.

PHP is a Loosely Typed Language
 In the example above, notice that we did not have to
tell PHP which data type the variable is.
 PHP automatically converts the variable to the
correct data type, depending on its value.
 In a strongly typed programming language, we will
have to declare (define) the type and name of the
variable before using it.

PHP Variable Scopes
 The scope of a variable is the part of the script
where the variable can be referenced/used.
 PHP has four different variable scopes:
 local
 global
 static
 parameter

Local Scope
 A variable declared within a PHP function is local
and can only be accessed within that function:
 Example
<?php
$x=5; // global scope
function myTest()
{
echo $x; // local scope
}
myTest();
?>

Global Scope
 A variable that is defined outside of any function, has
a global scope.
 Global variables can be accessed from any part of
the script, EXCEPT from within a function.
 To access a global variable from within a function,
use the global keyword:

Global Scope
 Example
 <?php
$x=5; // global scope
$y=10; // global scope
function myTest()
{
global $x,$y;
$y=$x+$y;
}
myTest();
echo $y; // outputs 15
?>

Static Scope
 When a function is completed, all of its variables are
normally deleted. However, sometimes you want a
local variable to not be deleted.
 To do this, use the static keyword when you first
declare the variable:

Static Scope
 Example
<?php
function myTest()
{
static $x=0;
echo $x;
$x++;
}
myTest();
myTest();
myTest();
?>
 OUTPUT ?

Parameter Scope
 A parameter is a local variable whose value is
passed to the function by the calling code.
 Parameters are declared in a parameter list as part
of the function declaration:
 Example : <?php
function myTest($x)
{
echo $x;
}
myTest(5);
?>

PHP echo and print Statements
 In PHP there is two basic ways to get output:
echo and print.
 There are some differences between echo and
print:
 echo - can output one or more strings
 print - can only output one string, and returns always 1
 Tip: echo is marginally faster compared to print
as echo does not return any value.
<?php
echo "<h2>PHP is fun!</h2>";
echo "Hello world!<br>";
echo "This", " string", " was", " made", " with multiple
parameters.";
?>

PHP Arrays
 An array stores multiple values in one single
variable:
Example
<?php
$cars = array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");
echo "I like " . $cars[0] . ", " . $cars[1] . " and " .
$cars[2] . ".";
?>

Create an Array in PHP
• In PHP, the array() function is used to create an
array:
• Example :
$cars = array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");
• In PHP, there are three types of arrays:
 Indexed arrays - Arrays with numeric index
 Associative arrays - Arrays with named keys
 Multidimensional arrays - Arrays containing one or more
arrays

PHP Indexed Arrays
 There are two ways to create indexed arrays:
 The index can be assigned automatically (index
always starts at 0):
 $cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");
OR
 The index can be assigned manually:
$cars[0]="Volvo";
$cars[1]="BMW";
$cars[2]="Toyota";

PHP Associative Arrays
 Associative arrays are arrays that use named keys
that you assign to them.
 There are two ways to create an associative array:
 $age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43
");
OR
 $age['Peter']="35";
$age['Ben']="37";
$age['Joe']="43";

PHP Associative Arrays
 Example
<?php
$age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");
echo "Peter is " . $age['Peter'] . " years old.";
?>
// Output : Peter is 35 years old.

PHP Multidimensional Arrays
 An array can also contain another array as a value,
which in turn can hold other arrays as well. In such a
way we can create two- or three-dimensional arrays:
Example
<?php
// A two-dimensional array:
$cars = array
(
array("Volvo",100,96),
array("BMW",60,59),
array("Toyota",110,100)
);
?>

The foreach Loop
• The foreach loop works only on arrays, and is used to
loop through each key/value pair in an array.
foreach ($array as $value)
{
code to be executed;
}
For every loop iteration, the value of the
current array element is assigned to
$value (and the array pointer is moved by
one) - so on the next loop iteration, you'll
be looking at the next array value.

The foreach Loop
Example:
<?php
$x=array("one","two","three");
foreach ($x as $value)
{
echo $value . "<br>";
}
?>

PHP Functions
 PHP User Defined Functions
 Besides the built-in PHP functions, we can create our own
functions.
 A function is a block of statements that can be used repeatedly in a
program.
 A function will not execute immediately when a page loads.
 A function will be executed by a call to the function.
 Create a User Defined Function in PHP
 A user defined function declaration starts with the word "function":
Syntax
function functionName(arg1, arg2…)
{
code to be executed;
}
 Note: A function name can start with a letter or underscore (not a
number).

PHP $_GET Variable
• The predefined $_GET variable is used to collect
values in a form with method="get"
• Information sent from a form with the GET method is
visible to everyone (it will be displayed in the
browser's address bar) and has limits on the amount
of information to send.
• Example
<form action="welcome.php" method="get">
Name: <input type="text" name="fname">
Age: <input type="text" name="age">
<input type="submit">
</form>

• When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the URL sent
to the server could look something like this:
http://www.w3schools.com/welcome.php?fname=Peter&age=37
• The "welcome.php" file can now use the $_GET variable
to collect form data as follow:
Welcome <?php echo $_GET["fname"]; ?>.<br>
You are <?php echo $_GET["age"]; ?> years old!

The $_POST Variable
• The predefined $_POST variable is used to collect
values from a form sent with method="post".
• Information sent from a form with the POST method
is invisible to others and has no limits on the amount
of information to send.
• Note: However, there is an 8 MB max size for the
POST method, by default (can be changed by
setting the post_max_size in the php.ini file).

Introduction to php

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