PHP

2012-09-25T20:49:23Z

HowardS: /* Strings */

'''PHP''' is a server-side scripting language for creating interactive [[web page]]s. The acronym ''PHP'' derives from Personal Home Page, but is now defined as "PHP: Hypertext Pre-Processor" (it means "something to handle data before it becomes HTML" <ref>[http://www.htmlite.com/php001.php HTMLite PHP Tutorial]</ref> ). Unlike [[HTML]], JavaScript and others, PHP is a Server-Side scripting language. It most always is processed into HTML for use in a web page.

PHP is one of the most popular scripting languages in the Open Source world, which is often used together with [[Apache]] on [[Linux]] or on other paid platforms such as Microsoft [[IIS]] on [[Windows]].

The PHP syntax is very similar to Perl and C. <ref name="w3">[http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp PHP Tutorial from W3Schools]</ref>

PHP is an ''interpreted language'' (like Perl) and not a ''compiled'' one (like [[Java]] or [[C]]).

==Strings==

Strings can be placed in single quotes or double quotes; this differs from Java, where single quotes are used only to enclose one single character rather than a string.

Important note:
* single quoted strings don't recognize most special character codes like \n <ref name="sitepoint">[http://www.sitepoint.com/article/advanced-email-php/3/ Advanced PHP from Sitepoint]</ref> and don't expand variables, however they do recognize \' and \\ <ref name="phpstrings">PHP: [http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php#language.types.string.syntax.single Strings]</ref>

===Concatenation ===

The [[string concatenation]] operator is the period (or full stop). This is a major difference from many other programming languages, which use a plus sign or ampersand.

Example:

<code>
$first = "car";
$second = "nation";
$product= $first . $second;

// Equivalent to:
$product= "carnation"
</code>

PHP recognizes variable names within strings, which are enclosed in double quotes. Since all variables begin with a dollar sign, it is easy to embed one string inside another. This is the preferred way to create HTML output.

For example:

<code>
$first = "John";
$middle = "Quincy"
$last = "Adams";

// Show full name, in bold format
echo <nowiki>"$first $middle $last";</nowiki>
</code>

This outputs <nowiki>"John Quincy Adams"</nowiki> to the HTML page.

==Databases==
PHP is compatible with multiple databases, MySQL being the most popular. They go together so well that it's tempting to think of PHP as primarily middleware to link MySQL on the back end to HTML on the front end.

Overall, PHP is compatible with:

*MySQL
*PostgreSQL
*MS-SQL 2000
*Oracle
*SQLite

and many others.

==Books==
*''How to Do Everything with PHP & MySQL'', Vikram Vaswani (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

==External links==
*[http://php.net PHP.net] - Offical PHP Website.

==See also==
* [[Embed PHP into HTML]]

[[Category:information technology]]
[[Category:Scripting Languages]]

==References==
<references/>

PHP

2012-09-25T20:14:00Z

HowardS: /* Strings */ \' and \\ allowed in single quote strings

'''PHP''' is a server-side scripting language for creating interactive [[web page]]s. The acronym ''PHP'' derives from Personal Home Page, but is now defined as "PHP: Hypertext Pre-Processor" (it means "something to handle data before it becomes HTML" <ref>[http://www.htmlite.com/php001.php HTMLite PHP Tutorial]</ref> ). Unlike [[HTML]], JavaScript and others, PHP is a Server-Side scripting language. It most always is processed into HTML for use in a web page.

PHP is one of the most popular scripting languages in the Open Source world, which is often used together with [[Apache]] on [[Linux]] or on other paid platforms such as Microsoft [[IIS]] on [[Windows]].

The PHP syntax is very similar to Perl and C. <ref name="w3">[http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp PHP Tutorial from W3Schools]</ref>

PHP is an ''interpreted language'' (like Perl) and not a ''compiled'' one (like [[Java]] or [[C]]).

==Strings==

Strings can be placed in single quotes or double quotes; this differs from Java, where single quotes are used only to enclose one single character rather than a string.

Important note:
* single quoted strings don't recognize most special character codes like \n <ref name="sitepoint">[http://www.sitepoint.com/article/advanced-email-php/3/ Advanced PHP from Sitepoint]</ref> and don't expand variables, however they do recognize \' and \\

===Concatenation ===

The [[string concatenation]] operator is the period (or full stop). This is a major difference from many other programming languages, which use a plus sign or ampersand.

Example:

<code>
$first = "car";
$second = "nation";
$product= $first . $second;

// Equivalent to:
$product= "carnation"
</code>

PHP recognizes variable names within strings, which are enclosed in double quotes. Since all variables begin with a dollar sign, it is easy to embed one string inside another. This is the preferred way to create HTML output.

For example:

<code>
$first = "John";
$middle = "Quincy"
$last = "Adams";

// Show full name, in bold format
echo <nowiki>"$first $middle $last";</nowiki>
</code>

This outputs <nowiki>"John Quincy Adams"</nowiki> to the HTML page.

==Databases==
PHP is compatible with multiple databases, MySQL being the most popular. They go together so well that it's tempting to think of PHP as primarily middleware to link MySQL on the back end to HTML on the front end.

Overall, PHP is compatible with:

*MySQL
*PostgreSQL
*MS-SQL 2000
*Oracle
*SQLite

and many others.

==Books==
*''How to Do Everything with PHP & MySQL'', Vikram Vaswani (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

==External links==
*[http://php.net PHP.net] - Offical PHP Website.

==See also==
* [[Embed PHP into HTML]]

[[Category:information technology]]
[[Category:Scripting Languages]]

==References==
<references/>

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