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PHP Introduction What is PHP? PHP is a programming language for building dynamic, interactive Web sites. As a general rule, PHP programs run on a Web server, and serve Web pages to visitors on request. One of the key features of PHP is that you can embed PHP code within HTML Web pages, making it very easy for you to create dynamic content quickly.

Dynamic Web page What exactly does the phrase "" dynamic, interactive Web sites " mean? A dynamic Web page is a page whose contents can change automatically each time the page is viewed. Contrast this with a static Web page, such as a simple HTML file, which looks the same each time it ’ s displayed (at least until the page is next edited). Meanwhile, an interactive Web site is a site that responds to input from its visitors. A Web forum is a good example — users can post new messages to the forum, which are then displayed on the site for all to see. Another simple example is a "" contact us " form, where visitors interact with the page by filling out and sending a form, which is then ed to the Webmaster.

Why Use PHP ? One of the best things about PHP is the large number of Internet service providers (ISPs) and Web hosting companies that support it. Today hundreds of thousands of developers are using PHP, and it ’ s not surprising that there are so many, considering that several million sites are reported to have PHP installed. Another great feature of PHP is that it ’ s cross - platform — you can run PHP programs on Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Solaris.

The PHP engine can integrate with all common Web servers, including Apache, Internet Information Server (IIS), Zeus, and lighttpd. This means that you can develop and test your PHP Web site on one setup, then deploy it on a different type of system without having to change much of your code. Furthermore, it ’ s easy to move your PHP Web site onto another server platform, if you ever need to.

PHP File What is a PHP File? PHP files can contain text, HTML tags and scripts PHP files are returned to the browser as plain HTML PHP files have a file extension of ".php", ".php3", or ".phtml“. What is MySQL? MySQL is a database server MySQL is ideal for both small and large applications MySQL supports standard SQL MySQL compiles on a number of platforms MySQL is free to download and use

PHP + MySQL PHP combined with MySQL are cross-platform (you can develop in Windows and serve on a Unix platform) Where to Start? To get access to a web server with PHP support, you can: Install Apache (or IIS) on your own server, install PHP, and MySQL Or find a web hosting plan with PHP and MySQL support.

PHP Syntax PHP code is executed on the server, and the plain HTML result is sent to the browser. A PHP scripting block always starts with A PHP scripting block can be placed anywhere in the document. On servers with shorthand support enabled you can start a scripting block with. For maximum compatibility, we recommend that you use the standard form (<?php) rather than the shorthand form.

PHP Syntax A PHP file normally contains HTML tags, just like an HTML file, and some PHP scripting code. Below, we have an example of a simple PHP script which sends the text "Hello World" to the browser: <?php echo "Hello World"; ?>

Each code line in PHP must end with a semicolon. The semicolon is a separator and is used to distinguish one set of instructions from another. There are two basic statements to output text with PHP: echo and print. In the example above we have used the echo statement to output the text "Hello World". Note: The file must have a.php extension. If the file has a.html extension, the PHP code will not be executed.

Comments in PHP In PHP, we use // to make a single-line comment or /* and */ to make a large comment block. <?php //This is a comment /* This is a comment block */ ?>

PHP VARIABLES A variable is used to store information. Variables are used for storing values, like text strings, numbers or arrays. When a variable is declared, it can be used over and over again in your script. All variables in PHP start with a $ sign symbol. The correct way of declaring a variable in PHP: $var_name = value; New PHP programmers often forget the $ sign at the beginning of the variable. In that case it will not work.

Let's try creating a variable containing a string, and a variable containing a number: <?php $txt="Hello World!"; $x=16; ?>

Loosely Typed Language PHP is a Loosely Typed Language In PHP, a variable does not need to be declared before adding a value to it. In the example above, you see that you do 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, you have to declare (define) the type and name of the variable before using it. In PHP, the variable is declared automatically when you use it.

Changing a Variable ’ s Data Type Here ’ s some example code that converts a variable to various different types using settype() : <?php $test_var = 8.23; echo $test_var." "; // Displays 8.23 settype( $test_var, "string" ); echo $test_var." "; // Displays 8.23 settype( $test_var, "integer" ); echo $test_var." "; // Displays 8 settype( $test_var, "float" ); echo $test_var. " "; // Displays 8.0 settype( $test_var, "boolean" ); echo $test_var. " "; // Displays 1 ?>

PHP String Variables A string variable is used to store and manipulate text. String variables are used for values that contain characters. After we create a string variable we can manipulate it. A string can be used directly in a function or it can be stored in a variable. Below, the PHP script assigns the text "Hello World" to a string variable called $txt: <?php $txt="Hello World"; echo $txt; ?>

The Concatenation Operator There is only one string operator in PHP. The concatenation operator (.) is used to put two string values together. To concatenate two string variables together, use the concatenation operator: <?php $txt1="Hello World!"; $txt2="What a nice day!"; echo $txt1. " ". $txt2; ?> The output is Hello World! What a nice day!

The strpos() function The strpos() function is used to search for a character/text within a string. If a match is found, this function will return the character position of the first match. If no match is found, it will return FALSE. Let's see if we can find the string "world" in our string: <?php echo strpos("Hello world!","world"); ?> The output of the code above will be: 6

The strlen() function The strlen() function is used to return the length of a string. Let's find the length of a string: <?php echo strlen("Hello world!"); ?> The output will be : 12

The position of the string "world" in the example above is 6. The reason that it is 6 (and not 7), is that the first character position in the string is 0, and not 1.

PHP Operators Arithmetic Operators OperatorDescriptionExampleResult +AdditionX=3 X=2 5 -SubtractionX=3 X-2 1 *MultiplicationX=3 X*2 6 /DivisionX=3 x/2 1.5 %ModuloX=3 X%2 1 ++IncrementX=3 X DecrementX=3 X-- 2

Comparison operators ==Equal to !=Not equal to <> Not equal to >Greater than <Less than >=Greater than or equal to <=Less than or equal to

Examples $x = 23; echo ( $x "; // Displays 1 (true) echo ( $x "; // Displays 1 (true) because // PHP converts the string to an integer echo ( $x == 23 ). " "; // Displays 1 (true) echo ( $x == "23 " ). " "; // Displays "" (false) because // $x and "23" are not the same data type echo ( $x > = 23 ). " "; // Displays 1 (true) echo ( $x > = 24 ). " "; // Displays (false) As you can see, comparison operators are commonly used to compare two numbers (or strings converted to numbers). The = = operator is also frequently used to check that two strings are the same.

Logical operators OperatorDescriptionexample &&Andx=6 y=3 (x 1) returns true ||Orx=6 y=3 (x==5 || y==5) returns false !Notx=6 y=3 !(x==y) returns true

Examples $x = 2; $y = 3; echo ( ($x > 1) & & ($x "; // Displays 1 //(true) echo ( ($x == 2) or ($y == 0) ). " "; // Displays 1 //(true) echo ( ($x == 2) or ($y == 3) ). " "; // Displays " //(false)" because both expressions are true echo ( !($x == 5 ) ). " "; // Displays 1 (true) //because $x does not equal 5