UNIT-2

BASIC BUILDING BLOCK OF PHP

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 SYLLABUS
2.1 Introduction to PHP
2.2 A Brief History of PHP
2.3 How PHP works?, PHP file structure, PHP start and end
tags, Commenting codes ( Single line, Multi line)
2.4 Creating and saving a PHP file
2.5 Output statement, echo and print statement
2.6 Installing PHP for (Windows, Wamp server , linux , Lamp
server, XXAMP server), Configuring Apache to use PHP,
Testing the PHP Installation

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2.7 PHP Variable and value types, data types, changing types with
settype(), casting
2.8 PHP Operators (Arithmetic, Logical, Bitwise, Assignment,
String, Inc/ Decrement, Comparison)
2.9 Operator precedence, constants, predefined constants

2.10 Flow control statements: The simple if statement, the if-else

statement, else if clause, switch statement, The ? operator
2.11 Loops: the While statement, do.. While statement, For
statement, breaking out with break statement, continue statement,
nesting loops.

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 2.1 INTRODUCTION TO PHP
 PHP is an acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor“.
 PHP is a widely-used, open source scripting language.

 PHP scripts are executed on the server.

 PHP is free to download and use.

 PHP files can contain text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP
code.
 PHP code are executed on the server, and the result is returned
to the browser as plain HTML
 PHP files have extension ".php“.

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WHAT CAN PHP DO?
 PHP can generate dynamic page content.
 PHP can create, open, read, write, delete, and close files
on the server.
 PHP can collect form data.

 PHP can send and receive cookies.

 PHP can add, delete, modify data in your database.

 PHP can be used to control user-access.

 PHP can encrypt data.

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 PHP runs on various platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac
OS X, etc.)

 PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today

(Apache, IIS, etc.)

 PHP supports a wide range of databases.

 PHP is free. Download it from the official PHP

resource: www.php.net

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WAMP, LAMP & XAMPP SERVER

 WAMP Server

 WAMP is Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP.

 WAMP Server is work on Windows Operating System only.

 LAMP Server

 LAMP is Linux Apache MySQL and PHP

 LAMP Server is work on Linux Operating System only

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 XAMPP
 xampp stands for x-os, apache, MySQL, php , Perl.

 X-OS means it can be used for any operating system.

 XAMPP for major operating system including windows,

Mac, Linux.

 XAMPP come with additional features including

support of Perl, filezilla, mercury mail and some scripts.

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2.2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF PHP
 PHP Created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf, the very first
incarnation of PHP was a written in the C programming
language. Originally used for tracking visits to his online
resume, he named the suite of scripts "Personal Home Page
Tools,"
 In June of 1995, the source code for PHP Tools to the public,
which allowed developers to use it as they saw fit. This also
permitted - and encouraged - users to provide fixes for bugs
in the code, and to generally improve upon it& its give the
name of PHP1.0.
 Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans rewrote the parser in 1997
and formed the base of PHP 3, changing the language's name
to the recursive acronym PHP: Hypertext
Preprocessor. Afterwards, public testing of PHP 3 began, and
the official launch came in June 1998. 9
 Suraski and Gutmans then started a new rewrite of PHP's core
it release Version PHP 2.0.In year 1998 they release new
version of PHP & it is known as PHP version 3.0.
 After they release of PHP Version 3.0 Zeev Suraski and Andi
Gutmans add various feature to the exiting version of PHP
such as session handling,output buffering etc..& release a
PHP version 4.0
 PHP version 4.0 does not support full Object Oriented
Programming features.Finally the PHP Version 5.0 was
release in 2004 with Object Oriented Programming Concept.

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2.3 HOW PHP WORKS?, PHP FILE STRUCTURE, PHP
START AND END TAGS, COMMENTING CODES ( SINGLE
LINE, MULTI LINE)

 The best way to explain how PHP works is by comparing it with

standard HTML. Imagine you type the address of an HTML
document (e.g. http://www.mysite.com/page.htm) in the
address line of the browser.
 This way you request an HTML page. It could be illustrated like
this: As you can see, the server simply sends an HTML file to
the client.
 But if you instead type http://www.mysite.com/page.php - and
thus request an PHP page - the server is put to work.

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12
PHP START AND END TAGS
 To execute the php script it must be written between php start
tag and eng tag.
 If it is not written between start tag and end tag then server
will not execute the php script.
 PHP support four types of start and end tag.

Sr.
Tag Type Start Tag End Tag
No.

01 Standard Tag <?php ?>

02 Short Tag <? ?>

03 Script Tag <script language=“PHP”> </script>

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04 ASP style Tag <% %>
 The standard tag and script tag are supported by all
servers. And the Short tag and ASP style tag are not
supported by all the servers.
 To enable the short tag in our server we have to set our
php.ini file as given below:
short_open_tag = on;
 To enable the ASP style tag in our server we have to set
our php.ini file as given below:
asp_tags=on;

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COMMENTING CODES ( SINGLE LINE, MULTI
LINE)

 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.
 PHP supports several ways of commenting:

 Single line comment

 Using // or #

 Multi line comment

 Using /* and */

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EXAMPLE OF COMMENT IN PHP
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html> // You can also use comments
<body> to leave out parts of a code
<?php line
// This is a single-line $x = 5 /* + 15 */ + 5;
comment echo $x;
# This is also a single-line ?>
comment </body>
/* </html>
This is a multiple-lines
comment block
that spans over multiple lines
*/ 16
2.4 CREATING AND SAVING A PHP FILE

 A PHP script is executed on the server, and the plain

HTML result is sent back to the browser.
 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".

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

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>My first PHP page</h1>
<?php
echo "Hello World!";
?>
</body>
</html> 18
NOTE
 PHP statements end with a semicolon (;).
 In PHP, all keywords (e.g. if, else, while, echo, etc.),
classes, functions, and user-defined functions are NOT
case-sensitive.
 However; all variable names are case-sensitive.

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2.5 OUTPUT STATEMENT, ECHO AND PRINT
STATEMENT

 In PHP output statements are used for displaying any

string message or value of variables.
 PHP supports two types of output statements

 echo statement
 print statement

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ECHO STATEMENT

 The echo statement basically used to display string or value of

variable.
 It can be used as a statement or as a function.

 It accepts one or more strings as an argument and display one

or more strings on the browser.
 The echo statement does not return any value.

 It is faster compared to print statement.

 Syntax: echo string;

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 Example

<?php
echo "<h2>PHP is Fun!</h2>”;
echo "Hello world! ",“ Good Morning";
echo “<br>I'm about to learn PHP!";
?>

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PRINT STATEMENT

 The print statement is basically used to display string or value

of variable.
 It can be used as a statement or as a function.

 As a statement
 print “Welcome to PHP”;
 As a function
 print (“Welcome to PHP”);
 The print statement accepts only one string as an argument and
display it on browser.
 The print statement always return 1.

 It is slower compared to echo statement.

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 Example

<?php
print "<h2>PHP is Fun!</h2>”;
print "Hello world! “.“ Good Morning";
print ( “<br>I'm about to learn PHP!“);
?>

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2.6 INSTALLING PHP FOR (WINDOWS, WAMP
SERVER , LINUX , LAMP SERVER, XXAMP
SERVER), CONFIGURING APACHE TO USE PHP,
TESTING THE PHP INSTALLATION
 If you decide to download PHP and install it
manually the step is below.
1. Download PHP and the WinCache extension.
2. Install PHP and WinCache.
3. Add the PHP installation folder to the Path environment
variable.
4. Set up a handler mapping for PHP.
5. Add default document entries for PHP.
6. Test your PHP installation.
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 Installing PHP for wamp server
1. Download the WAMP Server

2. Start Setup Wizard

3. Select Destination and Icon

4. Installing and Complate

5. Run WAMP Server.

o Installing PHP for Lamp server

1. A "LAMP" stack is a group of open source software that is

typically installed together to enable a server to host dynamic
websites and web apps. This term is actually an acronym
which represents the Linux operating system, with
the Apache web server. The site data is stored in a MySQL
database, and dynamic content is processed by PHP.
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2. The LAMP stack can be installed automatically on your Droplet
by adding this script to its User Data when launching it. Check
out this tutorial to learn more about Droplet User Data.
o Installing PHP for XXAMP server
1.In your web browser, go to
https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html
2. Click on the download link for XAMPP.
3. When prompted for the download, click "Save" and wait for your
download to finish.
4.Open CD or DVD drive from My Computer. Install the program,
and click on "Run.“
5.Accept the default settings. A command will open and offer an
initial installation prompt. Just hit the Enter key, and accept the
default settings. To simplify installation, just hit ENTER when
prompted on the command line. You can always change settings,
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by editing the configuration files later.
 6.When your installation is complete, exit the command
window by typing x on the command line.
 7. Start the XAMPP Control Panel.

 8. Start the Apache and MySQL components. You can also

start the other components, if you plan to use them.
 9.Verify the Apache install, by clicking on the Apache
administrative link in the Control Panel.
 10. Verify the MySQL installation, by clicking on the MySQL
administrative link in the XAMPP Control Panel.

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CONFIGURING APACHE TO USE PHP, TESTING
THE PHP INSTALLATION
 Now that we have configured PHP to work as we want it, lets go to
Apache and do the same.
 Open httpd.conf. and in the "Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) Support"
section add the following directives (if you have located your PHP
folder differently do make corresponding change for
php5apache2_2.dll below):
 LoadModule php5_module "C:/Program
Files/PHP/php5apache2_2.dll" AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
In the DirectoryIndex add index.php and index.htm as possible files
to serve when directory is requested as follows DirectoryIndex
index.html index.htm index.php .
 At the end of the file add the following line which will point out
where the php.ini file is locatedPHPIniDir "C:/Program Files/PHP"29
 Restart and test PHP
 As soon as you make any change to any of php.ini or httpd.conf or
any other configuration files you need to restart Apache to see the
actual effect of the changes. So lets now restart Apache by using
the Apache Monitor tool you can find in your Windows status bar.
Hopefully you are not prompted with any dialogues and the
Apache Monitor continues to run green.
 We will now make a test that PHP is working. Go to your web
servers document root (in the default case C:\Program
Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs) and add a
file called phpinfo.php with the following content:
 <?php phpinfo(); phpinfo(INFO_MODULES); ?> This will render
a page containing information about your PHP setup and about the
various modules/extensions that are currently loaded.
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2.7 USE PHP VARIABLES, DATA TYPES AND
OPERATORS.
 PHP variables
A variable is memory location which is used to store
value.
 Rules for PHP variables:
 A variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the
variable
 A variable name must start with a letter or the underscore
character
 A variable name cannot start with a number
 A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters
and underscores (A-z, 0-9, and _ )
 Variable names are case-sensitive ($age and $AGE are two
different variables) 31

 Example: $name = “VPMP”;

OUTPUT VARIABLES
 The PHP echo statement is  Example: Sum of two
often used to output data to variables
the screen.
 The following example will
show how to output text and <?php
a variable: $x = 5;
$y = 4;
<?php echo $x + $y;
$txt = "W3Schools.com";
echo "I love $txt!"; ?>
?>
OR
<?php
$txt = "W3Schools.com";
echo "I love " . $txt . "!";
?> 32
DATATYPE IN PHP

 Datatype is used to specify which type of value can be

stored in the variable and how much memory required by
a variable.

 In PHP, the datatype of variable is not required at

variable declaration. Because it will automatically
determine its type based on the value that is stored in it.

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Datatype Use

Integer To store number without decimal point.

Float or
To store number with decimal point.
Double
To store collection of characters enclosed between
String double quotation mark.

Boolean To store True or False value.

To store multiple values in the form of key and
Array value pair.

Object To represent an instance of class.

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Null To represent an initializes variable.
2.7 CHANGING TYPES WITH SETTYPE(), CASTING

 Gettype( ) function
 In PHP, gettype( ) function is used to get the datatype of
variable.
 Syntax:
gettype(variable name);
 Example:
<? php
$a=10;
echo gettype($a);
?>
 Output:
Integer
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 SETTYPE( ) FUNCTION
 In PHP, settype( ) function is used to set the datatype of variable.
 It returns Boolean value.
 If variable is set successfully to specific type then it returns 1
otherwise 0.
 Syntax:
settype(variable name, datatype);
 Example:
<?php
$a;
echo settype($a,”Integer”);
echo gettype($a);
echo $a;
?>
 Output: 36
Integer
0
TYPE CASTING
 Type casting is used to change the datatype of variable but
the difference is that casting produces a copy of existing
variable and changes datatype of newly created variable.
 The datatype of existing variable remains as it is.

 Syntax:
$NewVariable = (Datatype) $OldVariable;

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 Example:
<?php
$a=10;
$b = (float) $a;
echo gettype($a);
echo gettype($b);
?>
 Output
Integer
Double

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2.8 DESCRIBE PHP OPERATORS
 Operators are used to perform operations on variables
and values.
 PHP divides the operators in the following groups:

1. Arithmetic operators
2. Assignment operators
3. Comparison operators
4. Increment/Decrement operators
5. Logical operators
6. String operators

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 1. ARITHMETIC OPERATORS
 The PHP arithmetic operators are used with numeric values to
perform common arithmetical operations, such as addition,
subtraction, multiplication etc.

Operator Name Example Result

+ Addition $x + $y Sum of $x and $y

- Subtraction $x - $y Difference of $x and $y

* Multiplication $x * $y Product of $x and $y

/ Division $x / $y Quotient of $x and $y

Remainder of $x divided by
% Modulus $x % $y
$y 40
Exponentiatio Result of raising $x to the
** $x ** $y
n $y'th power
 2. ASSIGNMENT OPERATORS
 The PHP assignment operators are used with numeric values to
write a value to a variable.
 The basic assignment operator in PHP is "=".

 It means that the left operand gets set to the value of the
assignment expression on the right.

Equal
Assignment Meaning
to…
x=y $x + $y Sum of $x and $y
x += y $x - $y Difference of $x and $y
* $x * $y Product of $x and $y
/ $x / $y Quotient of $x and $y
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% $x % $y Remainder of $x divided by $y
** $x ** $y Result of raising $x to the $y'th power
 3. COMPARISON OPERATORS
 The PHP comparison operators are used to compare two values
(number or string).
Operator Name Example Result
== Equal $x == $y Returns true if $x is equal to $y

Returns true if $x is equal to $y, and they are

=== Identical $x === $y
of the same type

!= Not equal $x != $y Returns true if $x is not equal to $y

<> Not equal $x <> $y Returns true if $x is not equal to $y

Returns true if $x is not equal to $y, or they

!== Not identical $x !== $y
are not of the same type

> Greater than $x > $y Returns true if $x is greater than $y

< Less than $x < $y Returns true if $x is less than $y

Greater than or equal Returns true if $x is greater than or equal to

>= $x >= $y 42
to $y

<= Less than or equal to $x <= $y Returns true if $x is less than or equal to $y
4. LOGICAL OPERATORS
 The PHP logical operators are used to combine
conditional statements.

Operator Name Example Result

and And $x and $y True if both $x and $y are true

or Or $x or $y True if either $x or $y is true

True if either $x or $y is true,

xor Xor $x xor $y
but not both

&& And $x && $y True if both $x and $y are true

|| Or $x || $y True if either $x or $y is true

! Not !$x True if $x is not true 43

5. STRING OPERATORS
 PHP has two operators that are specially designed for
strings.

Operator Name Example Result

Concatenat $txt1 . Concatenation of

.
ion $txt2 $txt1 and $txt2
Concatenat
$txt1 .= Appends $txt2 to
.= ion
$txt2 $txt1
assignment

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6. INCREMENT/DECREMENT OPERATORS
 The PHP increment operators are used to increment a
variable's value.
 The PHP decrement operators are used to decrement a
variable's value.

Operator Name Meaning

Increments $a by one, then returns

++$a Pre-increment
$a
$a++ Returns $a, then increments $a by
Post-increment
one
Decrements $a by one, then
--$a Pre-Decrement
returns $a
Returns $a, then decrements $a by
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$a-- Post-decrement
one
2.9 OPERATOR PRECEDENCE, CONSTANTS,
PREDEFINED CONSTANTS

 The precedence of an operator specifies how

"tightly" it binds two expressions together. For
example, in the expression 1 + 5 * 3, the answer
is 16 and not 18 because the multiplication ("*")
operator has a higher precedence than the
addition ("+") operator. Parentheses may be used
to force precedence, if necessary. For instance: (1
+ 5) * 3 evaluates to 18.
 Generally in PHP expression are evaluated from
left to right & each operator is assigned
precedence.
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CONSTANT
 A constant is an identifier (name) for a simple value. The value
cannot be changed during the script.
 A valid constant name starts with a letter or underscore (no $
sign before the constant name).
 Note: Unlike variables, constants are automatically global
across the entire script.
 To create a constant, use the define() function.

 Syntax:

define(name, value, case-insensitive)

 name: Specifies the name of the constant
 value: Specifies the value of the constant
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 case-insensitive: Specifies whether the constant name should
be case-insensitive. Default is false
 Constants are automatically global and can be used across the
entire script.
 Example:

<?php
$r=10;
define(“PI", 3.14);
echo “Area = ” . PI*$r*$r;
?>

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2D. APPLY CONTROL STRUCTURES IN
PROGRAMMING
2.10 FLOW CONTROL STATEMENTS: THE SIMPLE
IF STATEMENT, THE IF-ELSE STATEMENT, ELSE IF
CLAUSE, SWITCH STATEMENT, THE ? OPERATOR
 In PHP we have the following conditional statements:
 if statement - executes some code only if a specified
condition is true
 if...else statement - executes some code if a condition is
true and another code if the condition is false
 if...elseif....else statement - specifies a new condition to
test, if the first condition is false
 switch statement - selects one of many blocks of code 49 to
be executed
IF STATEMENT
 The if statement is used to execute some code only if a
specified condition is true.
 Syntax
if (condition)
{
code to be executed if condition is true;
}
 Example
<?php
$t = date("H");
if ($t < "20")
{
echo "Have a good day!";
} 50
?>
 THE IF...ELSE STATEMENT
 Use the if....else statement to execute some code if a condition
is true and another code if the condition is false.
 Syntax

if (condition)
{
code to be executed if condition is true;
}
else
{
code to be executed if condition is false;
}

51
 Example
<?php
$a = 10;
if ($a%2 == 0)
{
echo “a is even number";
}
else
{
echo “a is odd number";
}
?>

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 THE IF...ELSEIF....ELSE STATEMENT
 Use the if....else if...else statement to specify a new condition
to test, if the first condition is false.
 Syntax:
if (condition)
{
code to be executed if condition is true;
}
else if (condition)
{
code to be executed if condition is true;
}
else
{
code to be executed if condition is false;
} 53
 Example
<?php
$a = 10;
if ($a < 0)
{
echo “a is negative number";
}
else if ($a >0)
{
echo " a is positive number ";
}
else
{
echo " a is zero";
}
54
?>
 THE SWITCH STATEMENT
 Use the switch statement to select one of many blocks of code
to be executed.
 Syntax
switch (n)
{
case label1:
code to be executed if n=label1;
break;
case label2:
code to be executed if n=label2;
break;
...
default:
code to be executed if n is different from all labels;
} 55
 First we have a single expression n (most often a variable),
that is evaluated once.
 The value of the expression is then compared with the values
for each case in the structure.
 If there is a match, the block of code associated with that case
is executed.
 Use break to prevent the code from running into the next case
automatically.
 The default statement is used if no match is found.

56
 Example
<?php
$favcolor = "red";
switch ($favcolor)
{
case "red":
echo "Your favorite color is red!";
break;
case "blue":
echo "Your favorite color is blue!";
break;
case "green":
echo "Your favorite color is green!";
break;
default:
echo "Your favorite color is neither red, blue, nor green!";
} 57
?>
2.11 LOOPS: THE WHILE STATEMENT, DO..
WHILE STATEMENT, FOR STATEMENT,
BREAKING OUT WITH BREAK STATEMENT,
CONTINUE STATEMENT, NESTING LOOPS.

 PHP Loops
 If you want the same block of code to run over and over
again in a row.
 Instead of adding several almost equal code-lines in a
script, we can use loops to perform a task like this.

58
PHP LOOPS
 In PHP, we have the following looping statements:
 while - loops through a block of code as long as
the specified condition is true
 do...while - loops through a block of code once,
and then repeats the loop as long as the specified
condition is true
 for - loops through a block of code a specified
number of times
 foreach - loops through a block of code for each
element in an array

59
 WHILE LOOP
 The while loop executes a block of code as long as the specified
condition is true.
 Syntax
while (condition is true)
{
code to be executed;
}
 Example
<?php
$x = 1;
while($x <= 5)
{
Echo "The number is: $x <br>";
$x++;
}
?> 60
 DO...WHILE LOOP
 The do...while loop will always execute the block of code once,
it will then check the condition, and repeat the loop while the
specified condition is true.
 Syntax

do
{
code to be executed;
}while (condition is true);
 In a do while loop the condition is tested AFTER executing the
statements within the loop.
 This means that the do while loop would execute its statements
at least once, even if the condition is false the first time.
61
 Example:

<?php
$x = 6;
do
{
echo "The number is: $x <br>";
$x++;
} while ($x<=5);
?>

62
 FOR LOOP
 PHP for loops execute a block of code a specified number of times.
 The for loop is used when you know in advance how many times
the script should run.
 Syntax

for (init counter; test counter; increment counter)

{
code to be executed;
}
 init counter: Initialize the loop counter value

 test counter: Evaluated for each loop iteration. If it evaluates to

TRUE, the loop continues. If it evaluates to FALSE, the loop ends.
 increment counter: Increases the loop counter value
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FOR LOOP
 Example
<?php
for ($x = 0; $x <= 10; $x++)
{
echo "The number is: $x <br>";
}
?>

64
BREAKING OUT WITH BREAK STATEMENT
 break statement is used inside loop to transfer control
of script immediately after the loop either
conditionally or unconditionally.
 If we write break statement inside the nested loop
then it will transfer control of the script outside loop
in which it exits.
 Example
<?php
for($i;$i<=10;$i++)
{
if ($i%5==0)
break;
else
echo $i.”<br>”;
}
?> 65
CONTINUE STATEMENT
 It is required to skip the execution of some statements inside the
loop.
 Continue statement allows to skip the statement that appear
immediately after it & transfer the control of the script to the next
iteration in the loop.
 It is used to inside for,while or do…while loop.
 Example
<?php
for($i;$i<=10;$i++)
{
if ($i%2==0)
continue;
else
echo $i.”<br>”;
}
66
?>
 NESTING LOOPS
 When one loop is contained another loop then it is called as Nested Loop.
 Generally nested loops are used with 2-dimensional Array & Matrix
Representation.
 It is also used to display the information of Tablear form in row & column
wise data display.
 Example
<?php
for($i=1;$i<=5;$i++)
{
for($j=1;$j<=5;$j++)
{
echo $i * $j;
echo “ “;
}
echo “<br>”;
} 67

?>