Just another PHP Basics tutorial for beginners- Part 1

Photo by Henri L. on Unsplash

3 letters together constitute the world most popular programming languages for web development. PHP — Hypertext Preprocessor

• Inbuilt Functionality
• Security
• Supports different database and data formats

To run a PHP file

• Install WAMP server (or) install XAMPP server for Windows.
• Install LAMP for LINUX machines.

Eg: let as consider WAMP sever ,for WAMP the default host name is “localhost”.

• Find the www folder C:/ (or) where you installed the WAMP and create a new folder. The folder name should be without any space .
• Place your PHP file inside the folder and every PHP file must have the file extension of called(.php).
• Then open your browser and type your hostname (eg: localhost).
• The WAMP page will show in that find your PHP folder under projects and open your folder , then your PHP file.

Basics of PHP

PHP file should have the extension of .php, Use text editor, notepad, dreamweaver, sublime editor, notepad++, and other editors to create and edit the PHP files.

PHP Tags

<?php
-----Your PHP code here----
?>

Defining a Variable

Every PHP variable must be defined with the symbol called “$”

<?php 
   $variable;
 ?>

Initialisation of a variable

<?php
$variable=”one”;
?>

every PHP code line will ends with the semicolon (;)

Assign value to multiple variables

<?php
$variable_one=”first”;
$variable_two= $variable_one;
?>

$variable_two value will be first

PHP Basic Datatypes

╔═════════════════╦══════════════════════╗
║ Examples        ║ Name of the Datatype ║
╠═════════════════╬══════════════════════╬
║ $validity=true; ║ Boolean              ║
║ $size=15;       ║ Integer              ║
║ $temp=4.44;     ║ Float                ║
║ $var=null;      ║ NULL String          ║
║ $cat=”animal”;  ║ String               ║  ╚═════════════════╩══════════════════════╝

PHP Comment Line

Comment line is used to comment between the codings for our knowledge to know some additional informations

In php 2 symbols are used to give comment they are

• //comment line
• #comment line

<?php
//this is php file
//this line doesn’t print while running
#thank you
?>

Print PHP Variables

<?php
$string =”Hello World!!”;
echo $string;
?>

PHP is case sensitive so give your variables carefully. Give echo to print the variable values.

OUTPUT: Hello World!!

<?php
$string =”Hello World!!”;
print  $string;
?>

php is case sensitive so give your variables carefully. use print keyword to show the value

OUTPUT: Hello World!!

First you have to initialise the variable

<?php
$string =””;
//also give $string =null;
echo $string;
?>

OUTPUT:

Unset a variable

<?php
$var =’print the character’;
echo $var;   //output is print the character
unset($var);
echo $var;  //output is --------null----------
?>

Print String along with PHP variables

<?php
$name=’Arun yokesh’;
echo “my name is”.$name;
?>

To join php variable with other thing use dot(.)

OUTPUT: my name is Arun yokesh

(.) is used to attach a php variable along with the sentence

<?php
$price=500;
$discount=200;
echo “brand new pencil is Rs”.$price.”after discount”.$discount.”rupees”;
?>

OUTPUT: brand new pencil is Rs 500 after discount 200 rupees

String Concadination

<?php
$numbers = “”;
$one=1;
$two=2;
$three=3;
$four=4;
$numbers .=$one.$two.$three.$four;
echo $numbers;
?>

OUTPUT: 1234

<?php
$numbers = “”;
$one=1;
$two=2;
$three=3;
$numbers .=$one;
$numbers .=$two;
$numbers .=$three;
echo $numbers;
?>

OUTPUT: 123

to join text with old stored data used . before “=” operator.

PHP Operators

╔═════════════╦═══════════════════════════════╗
║ Operators   ║ Meanings                      ║
╠═════════════╬═══════════════════════════════╬
║ ==          ║ Equal to                      ║
║ !=          ║ Not equal to                  ║
║ >           ║ Greater than                  ║
║ >=          ║ Greater than or equal to      ║
║ <           ║ Less than                     ║  
║ <=          ║ Less than or equal to         ║
║ ===         ║ Equal to and of the same type ║
╚═════════════╩═══════════════════════════════╝

PHP loop operators

╔═════════════╦═════════════╗
║ Operators   ║ Meanings    ║
╠═════════════╬═════════════╬
║ &&          ║ AND         ║
║ ||          ║ OR          ║
║ !           ║ NOT         ║
╚═════════════╩═════════════╝

PHP Arrays

<?php
$fruits=array(‘apple’,’banana’,’grape’);
echo $fruits[1];
?>

OUTPUT: banana

<?php
$fruits = array(
  ‘a’ => ‘apple’,
  ‘b’ =>’banana’
);
echo $fruits[‘a’];
?>

OUTPUT: apple

<?php
$data = array(
  ‘username’ => ‘arun’,
  ‘password’ => ‘secret’,
  ‘host’ => ‘192.168.1.4’
);
echo $data[‘host’];
?>

OUTPUT: 192.168.1.4

To get the array size use

<?php
$data = array('a','b');
$size= count($data);
echo $size;
?>

OUTPUT: 2

Get array values

<?php
$data_store = array(‘one’,’two’,’three’);
echo $datastore[1];
?>

OUTPUT: two

<?php
$data_store = array(‘one’,’two’,’three’);
foreach($data_store as $i){
  echo $i “\n”;
}
?>

\n is used to produce a new line

OUTPUT:

one
two
three

PHP statements and conditions

break; continue; exit;

If conditions

<?php
 if(condition)
 {
 -----code-----
 }
?>

If else statement

<?php
 if(condition)
 {
 -----code 1-----
 }
 else
 {
 -----code 2---
 }
?>

Switch Case Statement

<?php
$today=’monday’;
 dwitch($today)
 {
 case ‘monday’:
 echo ‘1’;
 break;
case ‘tuesday’:
 echo ‘2’;
 break;
case ‘wednesday’:
 echo ‘3’;
 break;
case ‘thursday’:
 echo ‘5’;
 break;
case ‘friday’:
 echo ‘6’;
 break;
case ‘saturday’:
 echo ‘7’;
 break;
 
?>

PHP Loops

while loop

<?php
while(condition)
 {
 -----code----
 }
?>

Do while Loop

<?php
do
 {
 -----code-----
 }
 while(condition)
?>

For loop

<?php
for(initialization;condition;increment/decrement)
 {
 -------code-----
 }
?>

for example

<?php
for($i=0;i<=3;i++)
 {
  echo $i;
 }
?>

OUTPUT : 0123

PHP Functions

<?php
function function_name()
{
--------Execution code----
}
function_name();
// call function
?>

For example

<?php
function print($str)   // argument passing in the function
{
 echo $str;
}
print(‘Hello world!’);
?>

OUTPUT : Hello world!

will be continued in next part : https://medium.com/@arunyokesh/just-another-php-basics-tutorial-for-beginners-part-2-433bb28de0d0

If you like this article. click the applause button! 👏 Follow me on Github, Twitter, Facebook.