Php

 

Php

Basics

Hello World

The echo statement is used to output strings or variables:

<?php echo "Hello World!"; print "Hello Again!"; // 'print' also works?>

Note: echo can take multiple parameters (though rarely used), while print always returns 1 and takes a single argument.


Comments

Single-line comments

// This is a comment# This is also a comment

Multi-line comments

/*    This is a    multi-line comment*/

Debugging Functions

  • var_dump($var) → Displays structured info (type + value).
  • print_r($var) → Prints human-readable info (good for arrays).
  • var_export($var) → Returns parsable string representation.
<?php$names = ["Harry", "Rohan"];var_dump($names);print_r($names);?>

Variables

  • Variables start with $.
  • Case-sensitive.
  • Must start with a letter or underscore.
<?php$title = "PHP Cheat Sheet";$_count = 10;?>

Constants:

define("PI", 3.14);echo PI;

Data Types

  • String
  • Integer
  • Float (double)
  • Boolean
  • Array
  • Object
  • NULL
  • Resource (special variable holding reference to external resources like DB connections)

Escape Characters

Valid in double-quoted strings and heredoc:

  • \n → newline
  • \r → carriage return
  • \t → tab
  • \\ → backslash
  • \" → double quote
  • \$ → dollar sign

⚠️ \e\v\f exist but are rarely useful in PHP.


Operators

Arithmetic

+ - * / % **

Assignment

=, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=, .=

Comparison

==, ===, !=, <>, !==, >, <, >=, <=, <=>

(<> is the same as !=<=> (spaceship operator) returns -1, 0, 1.

Increment / Decrement

++$x, $x++, --$x, $x--

Logical

&&, ||, and, or, xor, !

String

. → concatenation .= → concatenation assignment

Array

+ (union), ==, ===, !=, !==


Conditional Operators

Ternary

$result = ($age >= 18) ? "Adult" : "Minor";

Null Coalescing

$username = $_GET['user'] ?? "Guest";

Control Structures

If / Else / Elseif

if ($x > 10) {    echo "Greater";} elseif ($x == 10) {    echo "Equal";} else {    echo "Smaller";}

Switch

switch ($color) {    case "red":        echo "Stop";        break;    case "green":        echo "Go";        break;    default:        echo "Wait";}

Loops

for ($i=0; $i<5; $i++) { echo $i; } foreach ($arr as $value) { echo $value; }foreach ($arr as $key => $value) { echo "$key => $value"; } while ($x < 5) { $x++; } do { $x++; } while ($x < 5);

Break / Continue are supported.


Functions

function greet($name = "Guest") {    return "Hello, $name";}echo greet("Harry");
  • Arguments can have default values.
  • Functions can return values.
  • PHP supports type declarations:
function add(int $a, int $b): int {    return $a + $b;}

Superglobals

  • $GLOBALS
  • $_SERVER
  • $_GET
  • $_POST
  • $_REQUEST
  • $_FILES (for uploads)
  • $_COOKIE
  • $_SESSION
  • $_ENV

Arrays

$indexed = ["Harry", "Rohan"];$assoc = ["name" => "Harry", "age" => 25];$multi = [  ["Volvo", 100],  ["BMW", 200]];

String Functions

strlen("Harry");           // lengthstr_word_count("Hi all");  // word countstrrev("Harry");           // reversestrpos("Hello world","world"); // positionstr_replace("world","PHP","Hello world"); // replace

File Handling

$file = fopen("test.txt","r");$content = fread($file, filesize("test.txt"));fclose($file); file_put_contents("test.txt","New content");echo file_get_contents("test.txt");

Error Handling

try {    throw new Exception("Error!");} catch (Exception $e) {    echo $e->getMessage();}

OOP in PHP

class Bike {    public $color;    public function __construct($c) { $this->color = $c; }    public function getColor() { return $this->color; }} $myBike = new Bike("red");echo $myBike->getColor();

Access Modifiers: public, private, protected Other OOP Features: inheritance, interfaces, traits, abstract classes, namespaces.


Useful Functions

  • isset($var) → checks if variable is set
  • empty($var) → checks if variable is empty
  • unset($var) → destroys variable
  • is_array(), is_string(), is_int(), is_null()


Comments