MODULE IV

WORKING WITH PHP

PHP is a server side scripting language. that is used to develop Static websites or Dynamic
websites or Web applications. PHP stands for Hypertext Pre-processor, that earlier stood for
Personal Home Pages.

PHP scripts can only be interpreted on a server that has PHP installed.

The client computers accessing the PHP scripts require a web browser only.

A PHP file contains PHP tags and ends with the extension ".php".

What is a Scripting Language?

A script is a set of programming instructions that is interpreted at runtime.

A scripting language is a language that interprets scripts at runtime. Scripts are usually
embedded into other software environments.

The purpose of the scripts is usually to enhance the performance or perform routine tasks for an
application.

Server side scripts are interpreted on the server while client side scripts are interpreted by the
client application.

PHP is a server side script that is interpreted on the server while JavaScript is an example of a
client side script that is interpreted by the client browser. Both PHP and JavaScript can be
embedded into HTML pages.

Programming Language Vs Scripting Language

Programming language Scripting language

Has all the features needed to develop complete Mostly used for routine tasks
applications.

The code has to be compiled before it can be The code is usually executed without compiling
executed
Does not need to be embedded into other Is usually embedded into other software
languages environments.

What does PHP stand for?

PHP means - Personal Home Page, but it now stands for the recursive backronym PHP:
Hypertext Preprocessor.

PHP code may be embedded into HTML code, or it can be used in combination with various web
template systems, web content management system and web frameworks.

Php Syntax

A PHP file can also contain tags such as HTML and client side scripts such as JavaScript.

 HTML is an added advantage when learning PHP Language. You can even learn PHP
without knowing HTML but it’s recommended you at least know the basics of HTML.
 Database management systems DBMS for database powered applications.
 For more advanced topics such as interactive applications and web services, you will
need JavaScript and XML.

The flowchart diagram shown below illustrates the basic architecture of a PHP web application
and how the server handles the requests.
Why use PHP?

You have obviously heard of a number of programming languages out there; you may be
wondering why we would want to use PHP as our poison for the web programming. Below are
some of the compelling reasons.

 PHP is open source and free.

 Short learning curve compared to other languages such as JSP, ASP etc.
 Large community document
 Most web hosting servers support PHP by default unlike other languages such as ASP
that need IIS. This makes PHP a cost effective choice.
 PHP is regular updated to keep abreast with the latest technology trends.
 Other benefit that you get with PHP is that it’s a server side scripting language; this
means you only need to install it on the server and client computers requesting for
resources from the server do not need to have PHP installed; only a web browser would
be enough.
 PHP has in built support for working hand in hand with MySQL; this doesn’t mean
you can’t use PHP with other database management systems. You can still use PHP with
o Postgres
o Oracle
o MS SQL Server
o ODBC etc.
 PHP is cross platform; this means you can deploy your application on a number of
different operating systems such as windows, Linux, Mac OS etc.

What is PHP used for & Market share

In terms of market share, there are over 20 million websites and application on the internet
developed using PHP scripting language.

This may be attributed to the points raised above;

The diagram below shows some of the popular sites that use PHP
PHP vs Asp.Net VS JSP VS CFML

ASP – Active Server Pages, JSP – Java Server Pages, CFML – Cold Fusion Markup language
The table below compares the various server side scripting languages with PHP

FEATURE PHP ASP JSP CFML

Learning curve short Longer than Longer than Longer than PHP
PHP PHP

Web hosting Supported by Needs Fairly supported Needs dedicated server

almost all dedicated
hosting servers server

Open source Yes No Yes Both commercial and

open source

Web services Built in Uses Uses add on Built in

support the .NET libraries
framework

Integration with Easy Fairly Fairly complex Easy

HTML complex
MySQL support Native Needs third Needs third Current version has
party drivers party drivers native support. Older
versions use ODBC

Easily extended Yes No Extended using Yes

by other Java classes and
languages libraries.

PHP File Extensions

File extension and Tags In order for the server to identify our PHP files and scripts, we
must save the file with the “.php” extension. Older PHP file extensions include

 .phtml
 .php3
 .php4
 .php5
 .phps

PHP was designed to work with HTML, and as such, it can be embedded into the HTML code.

You can create PHP files without any html tags and that is called Pure PHP file .

The server interprets the PHP code and outputs the results as HTML code to the web browsers.

In order for the server to identify the PHP code from the HTML code, we must always enclose
the PHP code in PHP tags.

A PHP tag starts with the less than symbol followed by the question mark and then the words
“php”.

PHP is a case sensitive language, “VAR” is not the same as “var”.

The PHP tags themselves are not case-sensitive, but it is strongly recommended that we use
lower case letter. The code below illustrates the above point.

<?php … ?>
We will be referring to the PHP lines of code as statements. PHP statements end with a semi
colon (;). If you only have one statement, you can omit the semi colon. If you have more than
one statement, then you must end each line with a semi colon. For the sake of consistency, it is
recommended that you always end your statement(s) with a semi colon. PHP scripts are
executed on the server. The output is returned in form of HTML.

PHP Hello world

The program shown below is a basic PHP application that outputs the words “Hello World!”
When viewed in a web browser.

<?php
echo "Hello world";
?>

Output:

Hello world

HTTP GET &POST METHOD

What is HTTP?
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is designed to enable communications between clients
and servers.
HTTP works as a request-response protocol between a client and server.
A web browser may be the client, and an application on a computer that hosts a web site may be
the server.
A client (browser) submits an HTTP request to the server; then the server returns a response to
the client. The response contains status information about the request and may also contain the
requested content.

We have two HTTP request methods in PHP for handling the forms, where submitted form-data
from users can be collected using these methods. In order to send information to the webserver
from the browser client, we use GET and POST methods.

 GET Method: Data is requested from a specific resource

 POST Method: Data is submitted to be processed to a specific resource

These methods encode using a scheme called URL encoding before the browser sends the
information. Non-alphanumeric characters are replaced with hexadecimal values, and Gaps are
removed and replaced with the + character. After encoding the information, it is sent to the
server.

let’s get started.

What is GET Method?
It appends form-data to the URL in name/ value pairs. The length of the URL is limited by 2048
characters. This method must not be used if you have a password or some sensitive information
to be sent to the server. It is used for submitting the form where the user can bookmark the result.
It is better for data that is not secure. It cannot be used for sending binary data like images or
word documents. It also provides $_GET associative array to access all the sent information
using the GET method.

Example:

1 <?php if(isset($_GET["name"])){ echo " Welcome," . $_GET["name"] . " "; } ?>

2 <html lang="en">

3 <head>

4 <meta charset="UTF-8">

5 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

6 <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">

7 <title>Document</title>

8 </head>

9 <body>

10 <form method="get" action="<?php echo $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"];?>">

11 <label for="inputName">Name:</label>

12 <input type="text" name="name" id="inputName">

13 <input type="submit" value="Submit">

14 </form>

15 </body>

16 </html>

Output –
Advantages of Using the GET Method
 Since the data sent by the GET method are displayed in the URL, it is possible to
bookmark the page with specific query string values.
 GET requests can be cached and GET requests remain in the browser history.
 GET requests can be bookmarked.
Disadvantages of Using the GET Method
 The GET method is not suitable for passing sensitive information such as the username and
password, because these are fully visible in the URL query string as well as potentially
stored in the client browser’s memory as a visited page.
 Because the GET method assigns data to a server environment variable, the length of the
URL is limited. So, there is a limitation for the total data to be sent.

Now let’s move ahead and have a look at the POST method.

What is POST Method?

It appends form-data to the body of the HTTP request in such a way that data is not shown in
the URL. This method does not have any restrictions on data size to be sent. Submissions by
form with POST cannot be bookmarked. This method can be used to send ASCII as well as
binary data like image and word documents. Data sent by the POST method goes through HTTP
header so security depends on the HTTP protocol. You have to know that your information is
secure by using secure HTTP. This method is a little safer than GET because the parameters are
not stored in browser history or in web server logs. It also provides $_POST associative array to
access all the sent information using the POST method.

Example:

1 <?php if(isset($_POST["name"])){ echo " Welcome," . $_POST["name"] . " "; } ?>

2 <html lang="en">
3 <head>

4 <meta charset="UTF-8">

5 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

6 <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">

7 <title>Document</title>

8 </head>

9 <body>

10 <form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"];?>">

11 <label for="inputName">Name:</label>

12 <input type="text" name="name" id="inputName">

13 <label for="password">password:</label>

14 <input type="password" name="pass">

15 <input type="submit" value="Submit">

16 </form>

17 </body>

18 </html>

Output-
Advantages of using POST Method
 It is more secure than GET because user-entered information is never visible in the URL
query string or in the server logs.
 There is a much larger limit on the amount of data that can be passed and one can send text
data as well as binary data (uploading a file) using POST.
Disadvantages of using the POST Method
 Since the data sent by the POST method is not visible in the URL, so it is not possible to
bookmark the page with specific query.

 POST requests are never cached

 POST requests do not remain in the browser history.

Now that you know what are GET and POST methods, let’s have a look at the comparison of
GET vs POST method.

What is the difference between GET and POST method?

GET POST
GET Parameters are included in URL POST parameters are included in the body
GET requests are often used for fetching
documents and GET parameters are used to POST parameters are often used for updating
describe which document we are looking for data for actually making changes to the server
(or) what page we are on (or) things of that (or) to the data held on the server
nature.
Because they are in URL, have a maximum By default, they don’t have any maximum
URL length because you can encode many length. Now the Server can be configured and
parameters. For eg: Internet Explorer allows most are to have a maximum length but it is
2000 characters in the URL or something like usually substantially longer than 2000
that which can be quite limiting. characters.
When we make a GET request- a simple Post parameters are almost never cached
request for URL. There are a lot of machines because you are probably updating data on the
between you and server It saves a lot of effort if server so the industry standard is: Don’t cache
we know the document has not changed POST request
They should not change the server. You should Post requests are okay to change the server.
be able to make the same GET request over and That is what they are generally used for
requesting an update for the server and are not
the server should not change.
cached and there is no maximum length

PHP | Cookies

What are Cookies?

A cookie is a small file with the maximum size of 4KB that the web server stores on the client
computer.They are typically used to keeping track of information such as a username that the site
can retrieve to personalize the page when the user visits the website next time.A cookie can only
be read from the domain that it has been issued from.Cookies are usually set in an HTTP header
but JavaScript can also set a cookie directly on a browser.
Setting Cookie In PHP: To set a cookie in PHP,the setcookie() function is used.The setcookie()
function needs to be called prior to any output generated by the script otherwise the cookie will
not be set.
Syntax :
setcookie(name, value, expire, path, domain, security);
Parameters: The setcookie() function requires six arguments in general which are:

1. Name: It is used to set the name of the cookie.

2. Value: It is used to set the value of the cookie.
3. Expire: It is used to set the expiry timestamp of the cookie after which the cookie can’t be
accessed.
4. Path: It is used to specify the path on the server for which the cookie will be available.
5. Domain: It is used to specify the domain for which the cookie is available.
6. Security: It is used to indicate that the cookie should be sent only if a secure HTTPS
connection exists.

Below are some operations that can be performed on Cookies in PHP:

 Creating Cookies: Creating a cookie named Auction_Item and assigning the value Luxury
Car to it.The cookie will expire after 2 days(2 days * 24 hours * 60 mins * 60 seconds).

<?php

setcookie("Auction_Item", "Luxury Car", time()+2*24*60*60);

?>
Note: Only the name argument in the setcookie() function is mandatory.To skip an
argument,the argument can be replaced by an empty string(“”).
 Checking Whether a Cookie Is Set Or Not: It is always advisable to check whether a
cookie is set or not before accessing its value.Therefore to check whether a cookie is set or
not, the PHP isset() function is used.
To check whether a cookie “Auction_Item” is set or not,the isset() function is executed as
follows:
<?php

if(isset($_COOKIE["Auction_Item"])){
echo "Auction Item is a " . $_COOKIE["Auction_Item"];
} else{
echo "No items for auction.";
}

?>
Output:
Auction Item is a Luxury Car.
 Accessing Cookie Values: For accessing a cookie value, the PHP $_COOKIE superglobal
variable is used.It is an associative array that contains a record of all the cookies values sent
by the browser in the current request.The records are stored as a list where cookie name is
used as the key.
To access a cookie named “Auction_Item”,the following code can be executed:

<?php

echo "Auction Item is a " . $_COOKIE["Auction_Item"];

?>
Output:
Auction Item is a Luxury Car.
 Deleting Cookies: The setcookie() function can be used to delete a cookie.For deleting a
cookie, the setcookie() function is called by passing the cookie name and other arguments
or empty strings but however this time, the expiration date is required to be set in the past.
To delete a cookie named “Auction_Item”,the following code can be executed:

<?php

setcookie("Auction_Item", "", time()-60);

?>
Important Points
1. If the expiration time of the cookie is set to 0, or omitted, the cookie will expire at the end
of the session i.e. when the browser closes.
2. The same path, domain, and other arguments should be passed that were used to create the
cookie in order to ensure that the correct cookie is deleted.
PHP | Sessions

What is a session?
In general, session refers to a frame of communication between two medium. A PHP session is
used to store data on a server rather than the computer of the user. Session identifiers or SID is a
unique number which is used to identify every user in a session based environment. The SID is
used to link the user with his information on the server like posts, emails etc.
How are sessions better than cookies?
Although cookies are also used for storing user related data, they have serious security issues
because cookies are stored on the user’s computer and thus they are open to attackers to easily
modify the content of the cookie.Addition of harmful data by the attackers in the cookie may
result in the breakdown of the application.
Apart from that cookies affect the performance of a site since cookies send the user data each
time the user views a page.Every time the browser requests a URL to the server, all the cookie
data for that website is automatically sent to the server within the request.
Below are different steps involved in PHP sessions:

 Starting a PHP Session: The first step is to start up a session. After a session is started,
session variables can be created to store information. The PHP session_start() function is
used to begin a new session.It als creates a new session ID for the user.
Below is the PHP code to start a new session:

<?php

session_start();

?>
 Storing Session Data: Session data in key-value pairs using the $_SESSION[] superglobal
array.The stored data can be accessed during lifetime of a session.
Below is the PHP code to store a session with two session variables Rollnumber and Name:

<?php

session_start();

$_SESSION["Rollnumber"] = "11";
$_SESSION["Name"] = "Ajay";

?>
 Accessing Session Data: Data stored in sessions can be easily accessed by firstly
calling session_start() and then by passing the corresponding key to
the $_SESSION associative array.
The PHP code to access a session data with two session variables Rollnumber and Name is
shown below:

<?php

session_start();

echo 'The Name of the student is :' . $_SESSION["Name"] . '<br>';

echo 'The Roll number of the student is :' . $_SESSION["Rollnumber"] . '<br>';

?>
Output:
The Name of the student is :Ajay
The Roll number of the student is :11
 Destroying Certain Session Data: To delete only a certain session data,the unset feature
can be used with the corresponding session variable in the $_SESSION associative array.
The PHP code to unset only the “Rollnumber” session variable from the associative session
array:

<?php

session_start();

if(isset($_SESSION["Name"])){
unset($_SESSION["Rollnumber"]);
}

?>
 Destroying Complete Session: The session_destroy() function is used to completely
destroy a session. The session_destroy() function does not require any argument.

<?php

session_start();
session_destroy();

?>
Important Points
1. The session IDs are randomly generated by the PHP engine .
2. The session data is stored on the server therefore it doesn’t have to be sent with every
browser request.
3. The session_start() function needs to be called at the beginning of the page, before any
output is generated by the script in the browser.
PHP | Strings

Strings can be seen as a stream of characters. For example, ‘G’ is a character and
‘GeeksforGeeks’ is a string. We have learned about basics of string data type in PHP in PHP |
Data types and Variables. In this article we will discuss about strings in details. Every thing
inside quotes , single (‘ ‘) and double (” “) in PHP is treated as a string.
Creating Strings
There are two ways of creating strings in PHP:
1. Single-quote strings: This type of strings does not processes special characters inside
quotes.

<?php

// single-quote strings

$site = 'Welcome to GeeksforGeeks';

echo $site;

?>
Output:
Welcome to GeeksforGeeks
The above program compiles correctly. We have created a string ‘Welcome to
GeeksforGeeks’ and stored it in variable and printing it using echo statement.
Let us now look at the below program:
<?php

// single-quote strings

$site = 'GeeksforGeeks';

echo 'Welcome to $site';

?>
Output:
Welcome to $site
In the above program the echo statement prints the variable name rather than printing the
contents of the variables. This is because, single-quotes strings in PHP does not processes
special characters. Hence, the string is unable to identify the ‘$’ sign as start of a variable
name.
2. Double-quote strings : Unlike single-quote strings, double-quote strings in PHP is capable
of processing special characters.

<?php

// double-quote strings

echo "Welcome to GeeksforGeeks \n";

$site = "GeeksforGeeks";

echo "Welcome to $site";

?>
Output:
Welcome to GeeksforGeeks
Welcome to GeeksforGeeks
In the above program we can see that the double-quote strings is processing the special
characters according the their properties. The ‘\n’ character is not printed and is considered
as a new-line. Also instead of the variable name $site, “GeeksforGeeks” is printed.
PHP treats everything inside double quotes(” “) as Strings. In this article, we will learn about the
working of the various string functions and how to implement them along with some special
properties of strings. Unlike other data types like integers, doubles etc. Strings do not have any
fix limits or ranges. It can extend to any length as long as it is within the quotes.
It has been discussed earlier that string with single and double quotes are treated differently.
Strings within single quote ignores the special characters but double-quoted strings recognize the
special characters and treat them differently.
Example:

<?php

$name = "Krishna";
echo "The name of the geek is $name \n";
echo 'The name of the geek is $name';

?>
Output:
The name of the geek is Krishna
The name of the geek is $name
Some of the important and frequently used special characters that are used with double-quoted
strings are explained below:
 The character beginning with a backslash(“\”) are treated as escape sequences and are
replaced with special characters. Here are few important escape sequences.
1. “\n” is replaced by a new line
2. “\t” is replaced by a tab space
3. “\$” is replaced by a dollar sign
4. “\r” is replaced by a carriage return
5. “\\” is replaced by a backslash
6. “\”” is replaced by a double quote
7. “\'” is replaced by a single quote
 The string starting with a dollar sign(“$”) are treated as variables and are replaced with the
content of the variables.
Built-in String functions
Built-in functions in PHP are some existing library functions which can be used directly in our
programs making an appropriate call to them. Below are some important built-in string functions
that we use in our daily and regular programs:
1. strlen() function: This function is used to find the length of a string. This function accepts
the string as argument and return the length or number of characters in the string.
Example:

<?php

echo strlen("Hello GeeksforGeeks!");

?>
Output:
20
2. strrev() function: This function is used to reverse a string. This function accepts a string as
argument and returns its reversed string.
Example:

<?php

echo strrev("Hello GeeksforGeeks!");

?>
Output:
!skeeGrofskeeG olleH
3. str_replace() function: This function takes three strings as arguments. The third argument
is the original string and the first argument is replaced by the second one. In other words
we can say that it replaces all occurrences of the first argument in the original string by
second argument.
Example:
<?php

echo str_replace("Geeks", "World", "Hello GeeksforGeeks!"), "\n";

echo str_replace("for", "World", "Hello GeeksforGeeks!"), "\n";

?>
Output:
Hello WorldforWorld!
Hello GeeksWorldGeeks!
In the first example, we can see that all occurrences of the word “Geeks” is replaced by
“World” in “Hello GeeksforGeeks!”.
4. strpos() function: This function takes two string arguments and if the second string is
present in the first one, it will return the starting position of the string otherwise returns
FALSE. Example:

<?php

echo strpos("Hello GeeksforGeeks!", "Geeks"), "\n";

echo strpos("Hello GeeksforGeeks!", "for"), "\n";

var_dump(strpos("Hello GeeksforGeeks!", "Peek"));

?>
Output:
6
11
bool(false)
We can see in the above program, in the third example the string “Peek” is not present in
the first string, hence this function returns a boolean value false indicating that string is not
present.
5. trim() function: This function allows us to remove whitespaces or strings from both sides
of a string. Example:

<?php

echo trim("Hello World!", "Hed!");

?>
Output:
llo Worl
PHP | strcmp() Function

Comparing two strings is one of the most commonly used string operation in programming and
web development practices. The strcmp() is an inbuilt function in PHP and is used to compare
two strings. This function is case-sensitive which points that capital and small cases will be
treated differently, during comparison. This function compares two strings and tells us that
whether the first string is greater or smaller than the second string or equals to the second string.
Syntax:
strcmp($string1, $string2)
Parameters: This function accepts two parameters which are described below:
1. $string1 (mandatory): This parameter refers to the first string to be used in the comparison
2. $string2 (mandatory): This parameter refers to the second string to be used in the
comparison.
Return Values: The function returns a random integer value depending on the condition of
match, which is given by:
 Returns 0 if the strings are equal.
 Returns a negative value (<0), if $string2 is greater than $string1.
 Returns a positive value (>0) if $string1 is greater than $string2.
In this code we will try to understand the working of strcmp() function:

<?php

// PHP program to illustrate the working of strcmp()

$string1 = "Welcome to GFG";
$string2 = "Welcome to GeeksforGeeks";
$string3 = "Welcome to GFG";

// In this case both the strings are equal

print_r(strcmp($string1, $string3));
echo "\n";

// In this case the first is greater

print_r(strcmp($string2, $string1));
echo "\n";

// In this case the second is greater

print_r(strcmp($string3, $string2))

?>
Output:
0
31
-31
PHP | strstr() Function

The strstr() function is a built-in function in PHP. It searches for the first occurrence of a string
inside another string and displays the portion of the latter starting from the first occurrence of the
former in the latter (before if specified). This function is case-sensitive.
Syntax :
strstr( $string, $search, $before )
Parameters : This function accepts three parameters as shown in the above syntax out of which
the first two parameters must be supplied and the third one is optional. All of these parameters
are described below:
 $string : It is a mandatory parameter which specifies the string in which we want to
perform the search.
 $search : It is a mandatory parameter which specifies the string to search for. If this
parameter is a number, it will search for the character matching the ASCII value of the
number
 $before : It is an optional parameter. It specifies a boolean value whose default is false. If
set to true, it returns the part of the $string before the first occurrence of the $search
parameter.
Return Value : The function returns the rest of the string (from the matching point), or FALSE,
if the string to search for is not found.
Examples:

Input : $string = "Hello world!", $search = "world"

Output : world!

Input : $string = "Geeks for Geeks!", $search = "k"

Output : ks for Geeks!
Below programs illustrate the strstr() function in PHP :
Program 1: In this program we will display the portion of $string from the first occurrence of
<?php
echo strstr("Geeks for Geeks!", "k");
?>

Output:
ks for Geeks!
Program 2: In this program we will display the portion of $string before the first occurrence of
$search.

<?php
echo stristr("Geeks for Geeks!", "k", true);
?>

Output:
Gee
Program 3: In this program we will pass an integer as $search.

<?php
$string = "Geeks";
echo stristr($string, 101); // 101 is ASCII value of lowercase e
?>

Output:
eeks
PHP | substr() function

The substr() is a built-in function in PHP that is used to extract a part of string.
Syntax:
substr(string_name, start_position, string_length_to_cut)
Parameters:
The substr() function allows 3 parameters or arguments out of which two are mandatory and one
is optional.
1. string_name: In this parameter, we pass the original string or the string that needs to cut or
modified. This is a mandatory parameter
2. start_position: This refers to the position of the original string from where the part needs
to be extracted. In this, we pass an integer. If the integer is positive it refers to the start of
the position in the string from the beginning. If the integer is negative then it refers to the
start of the position from the end of the string. This is also a mandatory parameter.
3. string_length_to_cut: This parameter is optional and of integer type. This refers to the
length of the part of the string that needs to be cut from the original string. If the integer is
positive, it refers to start from start_position and extract length from the beginning. If the
integer is negative then it refers to start from start_position and extract length from the end
of the string. If this parameter is not passed, then the substr() function will return the string
starting from start_position till the end of string.
Return Type:
Returns the extracted part of the string if successful otherwise FALSE or an empty string on
failure.
Below is a program to illustrate working of substr() in PHP:

<?php

// PHP program to illustrate substr()

function Substring($str){
$len = strlen($str);
echo substr($str, 8), "\n";
echo substr($str, 5, $len), "\n";
echo substr($str, -5, 10), "\n";
echo substr($str,-8, -5), "\n";
}

// Driver Code
$str="GeeksforGeeks";
Substring($str);

?>
Output:
Geeks
forGeeks
Geeks
for
Convert Strings to Uppercase or Lowercase

PHP includes several functions that convert characters in strings to uppercase or lowercase. Pass
a string to these functions and they will apply upper or lower case to either:
 The entire string (strtolower and strtoupper),
 The first character of the string (lcfirst and ucfirst), or
 The first character of each word in the string (ucwords).
We demonstrate and describe each of these functions below.

Convert String to Lowercase

The strtolower function returns a string with all characters in lower case. In the example shown
here, we pass a string which includes some uppercase characters to strtolower. When we display
the result using echo, we can see that the string is now all lowercase characters:
// pass string to strtolower, display result using echo
echo strtolower('Hello World!'); // hello world!
Convert String to Uppercase
The strtoupper function returns a string with all characters in upper case:
// pass string to strtoupper, display result using echo
echo strtoupper('Hello World!'); // HELLO WORLD!
We pass the same string to strtoupper and see that echo displays the result with all uppercase
characters.

Convert First Letter to Uppercase

The ucfirst function returns a string with the first letter in uppercase. We demonstrate here by
passing the variable $name, which contains all lowercase characters, to ucfirst. In the result
displayed using echo, the name is capitalized:
$name = 'jon'; // all lowercase characters
// pass $name to ucfirst
echo 'Hello, my name is ' . ucfirst($name);
// Hello, my name is Jon

Convert First Letter to Lowercase

The lcfirst function returns a string with the first letter in lowercase. We demonstrate here
passing 'January' to see it returned as 'january':
echo lcfirst('January'); // january
The lcfirst function is a relative newcomer to PHP, available as of version 5.3.

Uppercase First Letter of Words in String

The ucwords function returns a string with the first letter of each word in uppercase, as we
demonstrate here:
// pass a phrase to ucwords
echo ucwords('a title without caps');
// A Title Without Caps
We display the results using echo which shows that the ucwords function returns a string with
each word capitalized.

PHP - Arrays
Arrays in PHP is a type of data structure that allows us to store multiple elements of similar data
type under a single variable thereby saving us the effort of creating a different variable for every
data. The arrays are helpful to create a list of elements of similar types, which can be accessed
using their index or key. Suppose we want to store five names and print them accordingly. This
can be easily done by the use of five different string variables. But if instead of five, the number
rises to a hundred, then it would be really difficult for the user or developer to create so many
different variables. Here array comes into play and helps us to store every element within a
single variable and also allows easy access using an index or a key. An array is created using
an array() function in PHP.
There are basically three types of arrays in PHP:
 Indexed or Numeric Arrays: An array with a numeric index where values are stored
linearly.
 Associative Arrays: An array with a string index where instead of linear storage, each
value can be assigned a specific key.
 Multidimensional Arrays: An array which contains single or multiple array within it and
can be accessed via multiple indices.
Numeric Array
These arrays can store numbers, strings and any object but their index will be represented by
numbers. By default array index starts from zero.
Example
Following is the example showing how to create and access numeric arrays.
Here we have used array() function to create array. This function is explained in function
reference.
<html>
<body>

<?php
/* First method to create array. */
$numbers = array( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5);

foreach( $numbers as $value ) {

echo "Value is $value <br />";
}

/* Second method to create array. */

$numbers[0] = "one";
$numbers[1] = "two";
$numbers[2] = "three";
$numbers[3] = "four";
$numbers[4] = "five";

foreach( $numbers as $value ) {

echo "Value is $value <br />";
}
?>

</body>
</html>
This will produce the following result −
Value is 1
Value is 2
Value is 3
Value is 4
Value is 5
Value is one
Value is two
Value is three
Value is four
Value is five
Associative Arrays
The associative arrays are very similar to numeric arrays in term of functionality but they are
different in terms of their index. Associative array will have their index as string so that you can
establish a strong association between key and values.
To store the salaries of employees in an array, a numerically indexed array would not be the
best choice. Instead, we could use the employees names as the keys in our associative array, and
the value would be their respective salary.
NOTE − Don't keep associative array inside double quote while printing otherwise it would not
return any value.
Example
<html>
<body>

<?php
/* First method to associate create array. */
$salaries = array("mohammad" => 2000, "qadir" => 1000, "zara" => 500);

echo "Salary of mohammad is ". $salaries['mohammad'] . "<br />";

echo "Salary of qadir is ". $salaries['qadir']. "<br />";
echo "Salary of zara is ". $salaries['zara']. "<br />";

/* Second method to create array. */

$salaries['mohammad'] = "high";
$salaries['qadir'] = "medium";
$salaries['zara'] = "low";

echo "Salary of mohammad is ". $salaries['mohammad'] . "<br />";

echo "Salary of qadir is ". $salaries['qadir']. "<br />";
echo "Salary of zara is ". $salaries['zara']. "<br />";
?>

</body>
</html>
This will produce the following result −
Salary of mohammad is 2000
Salary of qadir is 1000
Salary of zara is 500
Salary of mohammad is high
Salary of qadir is medium
Salary of zara is low
Multidimensional Arrays
A multi-dimensional array each element in the main array can also be an array. And each
element in the sub-array can be an array, and so on. Values in the multi-dimensional array are
accessed using multiple index.
Example
In this example we create a two dimensional array to store marks of three students in three
subjects −
This example is an associative array, you can create numeric array in the same fashion.
<html>
<body>

<?php
$marks = array(
"mohammad" => array (
"physics" => 35,
"maths" => 30,
"chemistry" => 39
),

"qadir" => array (

"physics" => 30,
"maths" => 32,
"chemistry" => 29
),

"zara" => array (

"physics" => 31,
"maths" => 22,
"chemistry" => 39
)
);

/* Accessing multi-dimensional array values */

echo "Marks for mohammad in physics : " ;
echo $marks['mohammad']['physics'] . "<br />";

echo "Marks for qadir in maths : ";

echo $marks['qadir']['maths'] . "<br />";
echo "Marks for zara in chemistry : " ;
echo $marks['zara']['chemistry'] . "<br />";
?>

</body>
</html>
This will produce the following result −
Marks for mohammad in physics : 35
Marks for qadir in maths : 32
Marks for zara in chemistry : 39

PHP | array() Function

The array() function is an inbuilt function in PHP which is used to create an array. There are
three types of array in PHP:
 Indexed array: The array which contains numeric index.
Syntax:
array( val1, val2, val3, ... )
 Associative array: The array which contains name as keys.
Syntax:
array( key=>val, key=>val, key=>value, ... )
 Multidimensional array: The array which contains one or more arrays.
Syntax:
array( array( val11, val12, ...)
array( val21, val22, ...)
... )
Parameters: This function accepts atmost two parameters as mentioned above and described
below:

 val: This parameter is used to hold the value of array.

 key: This parameter is used to hold the key value:
Return Value: This function returns an array of parameters.
Below programs illustrates the array() function in PHP:
Program 1: This example illustrate the Indexed array.

<?php

// Create an array
$sub = array("DBMS", "Algorithm", "C++", "JAVA");

// Find length of array

$len = count( $sub );

// Loop to print array elements

for( $i = 0; $i < $len; $i++) {
echo $sub[$i] . "\n";
}
?>
Output:
DBMS
Algorithm
C++
JAVA
Program 2: This example illustrate the Associative array.

<?php

// Declare an associative array

$detail = array( "Name"=>"GeeksforGeeks",
"Address"=>"Noida",
"Type"=>"Educational site");

// Display the output

var_dump ($detail);
?>
Output:
array(3) {
["Name"]=>
string(13) "GeeksforGeeks"
["Address"]=>
string(5) "Noida"
["Type"]=>
string(16) "Educational site"
}
Program 3: This example illustrate the Multidimensional array.

<?php

// Declare 2D array
$detail = array(array(1, 2, 3, 4),
array(5, 6, 7, 8));

// Display the output

var_dump ($detail);
?>
Output:
array(2) {
[0]=>
array(4) {
[0]=>
int(1)
[1]=>
int(2)
[2]=>
int(3)
[3]=>
int(4)
}
[1]=>
array(4) {
[0]=>
int(5)
[1]=>
int(6)
[2]=>
int(7)
[3]=>
int(8)
}
}

PHP | list() Function

The list() function is an inbuilt function in PHP which is used to assign array values to multiple
variables at a time. This function will only work on numerical arrays. When the array is assigned
to multiple values, then the first element in the array is assigned to the first variable, second to
the second variable, and so on, till the number of variables. The number of variables cannot
exceed the length of the numerical array.
Syntax:
list($variable1, $variable2....)
Parameter: It accepts a list of variables separated by spaces. These variables are assigned
values. At least one variable must be passed to the function.
Return Value: The function returns the assigned array to the multiple variables passed. If the
number of variables passed is greater than the number of elements in the array, an error is
thrown.
Below programs illustrate the list() function in PHP:

Program 1: Program to demonstrate the use of list() function.

<?php

// PHP program to demonstrate the

// use of list() function

$array = array(1, 2, 3, 4);

// Assign array values to variables

list($a, $b, $c) = $array;

// print all assigned values

echo "a =", ($a), "\n";

echo " b =", ($b), "\n";

echo " c =", ($c), "\n";

// Perform multiplication of

// those assigned numbers

echo "a*b*c =", ($a*$b*$c);

?>

Output:
a =1
b =2
c =3
a*b*c =6
Program 2: Program to demonstrate the runtime error of list() function.

<?php

// PHP program to demonstrate the

// runtime error of list() function

$array = array(1, 2, 3, 4);

// assign array values to variables

list($a, $b, $c, $d, $e) = $array;

?>

Output:
PHP Notice: Undefined offset: 4 in
/home/619f1441636b952bbd400f1e9e8e3d0c.php on line 6
Program 3: Program to demonstrate assignment of particular index values in the array to
variables.

<?php
// PHP program to demonstrate assignment of

// particular index values in the array to

// variables.

$array = array(1, 2, 3, 4);

// Assign array values to variables

list(, , $a) = $array;

// Print all assigned values

echo " a = ", ($a), "\n";

?>

Output:
a=3
PHP | header() Function

The header() function is an inbuilt function in PHP which is used to send a raw HTTP header.
The HTTP functions are those functions which manipulate information sent to the client or
browser by the Web server, before any other output has been sent. The PHP header() function
send a HTTP header to a client or browser in raw form. Before HTML, XML, JSON or other
output has been sent to a browser or client, a raw data is sent with request (especially HTTP
Request) made by the server as header information. HTTP header provide required information
about the object sent in the message body more precisely about the request and response.
Syntax:
void header( $header, $replace = TRUE, $http_response_code )
Parameters: This function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 $header: This parameter hold the header string. There are two types of header calls. The
first header starts with string “HTTP/”, which is used to figure out the HTTP status code to
send. The second case of header is the “Location:”. It is mandatory parameter.
 $replace: It is optional parameter. It denotes the header should replace previous or add a
second header. The default value is True (will replace). If $replace value is False then it
force multiple headers of the same type.
 $http_response_code: It is an optional parameter. It forces the HTTP response code to the
specified value (PHP 4.3 and higher).
Return Values: This function doesn’t return any value.
Example 1:

<?php
// PHP program to describes header function

// Redirect the browser

header("Location: http://www.geeksforgeeks.org");

// The below code does not get executed

// while redirecting
exit;

?>
Output:
This will change location of header, i.e. redirect to the URL
Example 2:

<?php
// PHP program to describes header function

// Set a past date

header("Expires: Sun, 25 Jul 1997 06:02:34 GMT");
header("Cache-Control: no-cache");
header("Pragma: no-cache");
?>

<html>
<body>
<p>Hello World!</p>

<!-- PHP program to display

header list -->
<?php
print_r(headers_list());
?>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Hello World!
Array (
[0] => X-Powered-By: PHP/7.0.33
[1] => Expires: Sun, 25 Jul 1997 06:02:34 GMT
[2] => Cache-Control: no-cache
[3] => Pragma: no-cache
)
The above example helps to prevent caching by sending header information which override
browser setting to not-cache.
Note: The header() functions is used multiple time in the example as one header is allowed to
send at a time (since PHP 4.4) to prevent header injection attacks.
Uses:
 Change page location
 Set timezone
 Set caching control
 Initiate force download
 Send HTTP Status