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In PHP a string is a set of characters, where a character is the same as a byte.
How to define a string in PHP?
A string can be defined in four different ways:
- single quoted
- double quoted
- heredoc syntax (Behaves like single quoted)
- nowdoc syntax (Behaves like double quoted)
single quoted string
The simplest way to define a string is to enclose it in single quotes (the character ‘).
To enter a literal single quote, escape it with a backslash (\).
To enter a literal backslash, double it (\\).
$var = 'My first string'; echo $var; //Result: My first string
Double quoted string
Other way to define a string is to enclose it in double-quotes(“).
If in single quotes, only \\ and \’ had a special meaning, in double quotes, are more escape sequences, like:
\n Line Break
\r Carriage Return
\t Tab Space
\\ Backslash
We can use variables inside double quoted strings, because PHP will parse them.
Curly braces syntax
To use a variable with curly braces is very easy. Just wrap the variable with { and } like:
When to use curly braces?
Sometimes, when you are defining a variable inside a string, you have to add characters to variable name, like ‘s’ for plural. So you have to add curly braces to variable, otherwise this will produce an error.
$fruit = 'banana'; echo "I like to eat $fruits"; //Result: Notice: Undefined variable: fruits
Add curly braces to $fruit, like:
$fruit = 'banana'; echo "I like to eat {$fruit}s"; //Result: I like to eat bananas
Doc Syntax
Doc syntax is used in the following way:
- Starts with <<<
- add an identifier in the same line enclosed with single quotes(for nowdoc) or double quotes(for heredoc
- Write the string in a new line (can be multiline)
- Close with the identifier and a ; in a new line
The identifier must follow the same naming rules as any other label in PHP: it must contain only alphanumeric characters and underscores, and must start with a non-digit character or underscore.
Starting with PHP 5.3.0, the opening Heredoc identifier may optionally be enclosed in double quotes.
$str = <<<END Welcome to Webpedia END; echo $str; Result://Welcome to Webpedia
PHP String Operators
The Concatenation Operator (‘.’)
Which return the concatenation of its right and left arguments
$first = "Web"; $last = "Pedia"; $full = $first . ' ' . $last ; // Result: Webpedia
Combined concatenating operator (‘.=’)
Which appends the argument on the right side to the argument on the left side
$first = "Web"; $middle .= " "; $last .= "Pedia"; echo $full; // Result: Web Pedia
How to display a String in PHP?
The echo() function is used to display a string.
The echo() is not actually a function, so you are not required to use parentheses with it.
$var = "Welcome to Webpedia"; echo $myName;//Result: Welcome to Webpedia
Careful The echo() function is slightly faster than print().
When you are displaying just a single string, you can use a shorthand for echo(), which means to replace “php” from “Careful The shorthand for echo() only works when you are displaying a single string.
PHP string functions
How to get the length of a String?
strlen() function returns the length of a string
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