Home > Articles

PHP Crash Course

This chapter is from the book

Embedding PHP in HTML

Under the <h2> heading in your file, add the following lines:

<?php
  echo '<p>Order processed.</p>';
?>

Save the file and load it in your browser by filling out Bob’s form and clicking the Submit Order button. You should see something similar to the output shown in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2

Figure 1.2 Text passed to PHP’s echo construct is echoed to the browser

Notice how the PHP code you wrote was embedded inside a normal-looking HTML file. Try viewing the source from your browser. You should see this code <!DOCTYPE html>

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Bob's Auto Parts - Order Results</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Bob's Auto Parts</h1>
    <h2>Order Results</h2>
    <p>Order processed.</p>
  </body>
</html>

None of the raw PHP is visible because the PHP interpreter has run through the script and replaced it with the output from the script. This means that from PHP you can produce clean HTML viewable with any browser; in other words, the user’s browser does not need to understand PHP.

This example illustrates the concept of server-side scripting in a nutshell. The PHP has been interpreted and executed on the web server, as distinct from JavaScript and other client-side technologies interpreted and executed within a web browser on a user’s machine.

The code that you now have in this file consists of four types of text:

  • HTML

  • PHP tags

  • PHP statements

  • Whitespace

You can also add comments.

Most of the lines in the example are just plain HTML.

PHP Tags

The PHP code in the preceding example began with <?php and ended with ?>. This is similar to all HTML tags because they all begin with a less than (<) symbol and end with a greater than (>) symbol. These symbols (<?php and ?>) are called PHP tags. They tell the web server where the PHP code starts and finishes. Any text between the tags is interpreted as PHP. Any text outside these tags is treated as normal HTML. The PHP tags allow you to escape from HTML.

There are actually two styles of PHP tags; each of the following fragments of code is equivalent:

  • XML style

    <?php echo '<p>Order processed.</p>'; ?>

    This is the tag style that we use in this book; it is the preferred PHP tag style. The server administrator cannot turn it off, so you can guarantee it will be available on all servers, which is especially important if you are writing applications that may be used on different installations. This tag style can be used with Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents. In general, we recommend you use this tag style.

  • Short style

  • <? echo '<p>Order processed.</p>'; ?>

    This tag style is the simplest and follows the style of a Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) processing instruction. To use this type of tag—which is the shortest to type—you either need to enable the short_open_tag setting in your config file or compile PHP with short tags enabled. You can find more information on how to use this tag style in Appendix A. The use of this style is not recommended for use in code you plan to distribute. It will not work in many environments as it is no longer enabled by default.

PHP Statements

You tell the PHP interpreter what to do by including PHP statements between your opening and closing tags. The preceding example used only one type of statement:

echo '<p>Order processed.</p>';

As you have probably guessed, using the echo construct has a very simple result: It prints (or echoes) the string passed to it to the browser. In Figure 1.2, you can see the result is that the text Order processed. appears in the browser window.

Notice that there is a semicolon at the end of the echo statement. Semicolons separate statements in PHP much like periods separate sentences in English. If you have programmed in C or Java before, you will be familiar with using the semicolon in this way.

Leaving off the semicolon is a common syntax error that is easily made. However, it’s equally easy to find and to correct.

Whitespace

Spacing characters such as newlines (carriage returns), spaces, and tabs are known as whitespace. As you probably already know, browsers ignore whitespace in HTML, and so does the PHP engine. Consider these two HTML fragments:

<h1>Welcome to Bob's Auto Parts!</h1><p>What would you like to order today?</p>

and

<h1>Welcome             to Bob's
Auto Parts!</h1>
<p>What would you like
to order today?</p>

These two snippets of HTML code produce identical output because they appear the same to the browser. However, you can and are encouraged to use whitespace sensibly in your HTML as an aid to humans—to enhance the readability of your HTML code. The same is true for PHP. You don’t need to have any whitespace between PHP statements, but it makes the code much easier to read if you put each statement on a separate line. For example,

echo 'hello ';
echo 'world';

and

echo 'hello ';echo 'world';

are equivalent, but the first version is easier to read.

Comments

Comments are exactly that: Comments in code act as notes to people reading the code. Comments can be used to explain the purpose of the script, who wrote it, why they wrote it the way they did, when it was last modified, and so on. You generally find comments in all but the simplest PHP scripts.

The PHP interpreter ignores any text in comments. Essentially, the PHP parser skips over the comments, making them equivalent to whitespace.

PHP supports C, C++, and shell script–style comments.

The following is a C-style, multiline comment that might appear at the start of a PHP script:

/* Author: Bob Smith
   Last modified: April 10
   This script processes the customer orders.
*/

Multiline comments should begin with a /* and end with */. As in C, multiline comments cannot be nested.

You can also use single-line comments, either in the C++ style:

echo '<p>Order processed.</p>'; // Start printing order

or in the shell script style:

echo '<p>Order processed.</p>'; # Start printing order

With both of these styles, everything after the comment symbol (# or //) is a comment until you reach the end of the line or the ending PHP tag, whichever comes first.

In the following line of code, the text before the closing tag, here is a comment, is part of a comment. The text after the closing tag, here is not, will be treated as HTML because it is outside the closing tag:

// here is a comment ?> here is not

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020