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Strings in PHP

The PHP function echo or print is a means of outputting text to the web browser. Throughout your PHP career you will be using the echo function more than any other. So let’s give it a solid perusal

String variables are used for values that contains character strings. Today we are going to look at some of the most common functions and operators used to manipulate strings in PHP.

After we create a string we can manipulate it. A string can be used directly in a function or it can be stored in a variable.

You can place either a string variable or you can use quotes, like we do below, to create a string that the echo function will output. Below, the PHP script assigns the string “Hello World” to a string variable called $txt:

<?php
 
$txt = "Hello World";
echo $txt;
 
?>

The output of the code above will be:

Hello World

In the above example we output “Hello World” without a hitch. The text we are outputting is being sent to the user in the form of a web page, so it’s important that we use proper HTML syntax !

In our second echo statement we’ll use echo to write a valid Header 5 HTML statement. To do this we simply put the h5 at the beginning of the string and closed it at the end of the string. Just because you’re using PHP to make web pages does not mean you can forget about HTML syntax !

Careful When Echoing Quotes

It is pretty cool that you can output HTML with PHP. However, you must be careful when using HTML code or any other string that includes quotes! The echo function uses quotes to define the beginning and end of the string, so you must use one of the following tactics if your string contains quotations:

* Don’t use quotes inside your string
* Escape your quotes that are within the string with a backslash. To escape a quote just place a backslash directly before the quotation mark, i.e. \”
* Use single quotes (apostrophes) for quotes inside your string.

See the example below for the right and wrong use of the echo function:

<?php
 
// This won't work because of the quotes around specialH5
echo "<h5 class="specialH5">I love using PHP!</h5>";  
 
// OK because we escaped the quotes
echo "<h5 class=\"specialH5\">I love using PHP!</h5>";  
 
// OK because we used an apostrophe '
echo "<h5 class='specialH5'>I love using PHP!</h5>";  
 
?>

If you want to output a string that includes quotations, either use an apostrophe ( ‘ ) or escape the quotations by placing a backslash in front of it ( \” ). The backslash will tell PHP that you want the quotation to be used within the string and NOT to be used to end echo’s string.

Echoing Variables

Echoing variables is very easy. The PHP developers put in some extra work to make the common task of echoing all variables nearly foolproof ! No quotations are required, even if the variable does not hold a string. Below is the correct format for echoing a variable:

<?php
 
$my_string = "Hello Jack.  How are you ?  ";
$my_number = 4;
$my_letter = a;
 
echo $my_string;
echo $my_number;
echo $my_letter;
 
?>

The output of the code above will be:

Hello Jack.  How are you ?  4a

Now, lets try to use some different functions and operators to manipulate our string.