Latest web development tutorials
 

PHP 5 Syntax


A PHP script is executed on the server, and the plain HTML result is sent back to the browser.


Basic PHP Syntax

A PHP script can be placed anywhere in the document.

A PHP script starts with <?php and ends with ?>:

<?php
// PHP code goes here
?>

The default file extension for PHP files is ".php".

A PHP file normally contains HTML tags, and some PHP scripting code.

Below, we have an example of a simple PHP file, with a PHP script that uses a built-in PHP function "echo" to output the text "Hello World!" on a web page:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>My first PHP page</h1>

<?php
echo "Hello World!";
?>


</body>
</html>
Run example »

Note: PHP statements end with a semicolon (;).


Comments in PHP

A comment in PHP code is a line that is not read/executed as part of the program. Its only purpose is to be read by someone who is looking at the code.

Comments can be used to:

  • Let others understand what you are doing
  • Remind yourself of what you did - Most programmers have experienced coming back to their own work a year or two later and having to re-figure out what they did. Comments can remind you of what you were thinking when you wrote the code

PHP supports several ways of commenting:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<?php
// This is a single-line comment

# This is also a single-line comment

/*
This is a multiple-lines comment block
that spans over multiple
lines
*/

// You can also use comments to leave out parts of a code line
$x = 5 /* + 15 */ + 5;
echo $x;
?>


</body>
</html>
Run example »

PHP Case Sensitivity

In PHP, all keywords (e.g. if, else, while, echo, etc.), classes, functions, and user-defined functions are NOT case-sensitive.

In the example below, all three echo statements below are legal (and equal):

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<?php
ECHO "Hello World!<br>";
echo "Hello World!<br>";
EcHo "Hello World!<br>";
?>


</body>
</html>
Run example »

However; all variable names are case-sensitive.

In the example below, only the first statement will display the value of the $color variable (this is because $color, $COLOR, and $coLOR are treated as three different variables):

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<?php
$color = "red";
echo "My car is " . $color . "<br>";
echo "My house is " . $COLOR . "<br>";
echo "My boat is " . $coLOR . "<br>";
?>


</body>
</html>
Run example »