PHP Basics

What is PHP?
 PHP == ‘Hypertext Preprocessor’
 Open-source, server-side scripting language
 Used to generate dynamic web-pages
 PHP scripts reside between reserved PHP tags
<?PHP PHP code goes here ?>
 This allows the programmer to embed PHP scripts

within HTML pages

What is PHP (cont’d)
 Interpreted language, scripts are parsed at run-
time rather than compiled beforehand
 Executed on the server-side
 Source-code not visible by client
 ‘View Source’ in browsers does not display the PHP
code
 Various built-in functions allow for fast
development
 Compatible with many popular databases
What does PHP code look like?
 Structurally similar to C/C++
 Supports procedural and object-oriented
paradigm (to some degree)
 All PHP statements end with a semi-colon
 Each PHP script must be enclosed in the
reserved PHP tag

<?php
…
?>
 Comments in PHP
 Standard C, C++, and shell comment
symbols

// C++ and Java-style comment

# Shell-style comments

/* C-style comments
These can span multiple lines */
Echo
 The PHP command ‘echo’ is used to output
the parameters passed to it
 The typical usage for this is to send data to the
client’s web-browser
 Syntax
 void echo (string arg1 [, string argn...])
 In practice, arguments are not passed in
parentheses since echo is a language construct
rather than an actual function
Echo example
<?php
$foo = 25; // Numerical variable
$bar = “Hello”; // String variable

echo $bar; // Outputs Hello

echo $foo,$bar; // Outputs 25Hello
echo “5x5=”,$foo; // Outputs 5x5=25
echo “5x5=$foo”; // Outputs 5x5=25
echo ‘5x5=$foo’; // Outputs 5x5=$foo
?>

 Notice how echo ‘5x5=$foo’ outputs $foo rather than replacing it with 25
 Strings in single quotes (‘ ’) are not interpreted or evaluated by PHP
 This is true for both variables and character escape-sequences (such as “\
n” or “\\”)
Variables in PHP
 PHP variables must begin with a “$” sign
 Case-sensitive ($Foo != $foo != $fOo)
 Global and locally-scoped variables
 Global variables can be used anywhere
 Local variables restricted to a function or class
 Certain variable names reserved by PHP
 Form variables ($_POST, $_GET)
 Server variables ($_SERVER)
 Etc.
Variable usage

<?php
$foo = 25; // Numerical variable
$bar = “Hello”; // String variable

$foo = ($foo * 7); // Multiplies foo by 7

$bar = ($bar * 7); // Invalid expression
?>
Data types in PHP
PHP Integers
 Integers are whole numbers, without a
decimal point (..., -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, ...). Integers
can be specified in decimal (base 10),
hexadecimal (base 16 - prefixed with 0x) or
octal (base 8 - prefixed with 0) notation,
optionally preceded by a sign (- or +).
PHP Floating Point
numbers
 Floating point numbers (also known as
"floats", "doubles", or "real numbers") are
decimal or fractional numbers.
PHP Booleans
 Booleans are like a switch it has only two
possible values either 1 (true) or 0 (false).
PHP Strings
 Strings are sequences of characters, where
every character is the same as a byte.
 A string can hold letters, numbers, and
special characters and it can be as large as
up to 2GB (2147483647 bytes maximum).
The simplest way to specify a string is to
enclose it in single quotes (e.g. 'Hello world!'),
however you can also use double quotes
("Hello world!").
PHP Arrays

 An array is a variable that can hold more than

one value at a time. It is useful to aggregate a
series of related items together, for example
a set of country or city names.
 An array is formally defined as an indexed
collection of data values. Each index (also
known as the key) of an array is unique and
references a corresponding value.
PHP Objects
 An object is a data type that not only allows storing data but
also information on, how to process that data. An object is a
specific instance of a class which serve as templates for
objects. Objects are created based on this template via the
new keyword.
 Every object has properties and methods corresponding to
those of its parent class. Every object instance is completely
independent, with its own properties and methods, and can
thus be manipulated independently of other objects of the
same class.
 Here's a simple example of a class definition followed by the
object creation.
PHP Objects
 An object is a data type that not only allows storing data but
also information on, how to process that data. An object is a
specific instance of a class which serve as templates for
objects. Objects are created based on this template via the
new keyword.
 Every object has properties and methods corresponding to
those of its parent class. Every object instance is completely
independent, with its own properties and methods, and can
thus be manipulated independently of other objects of the
same class.
 Here's a simple example of a class definition followed by the
object creation.
PHP NULL
 The special NULL value is used to represent empty
variables in PHP. A variable of type NULL is a
variable without any data. NULL is the only possible
value of type null.
 When a variable is created without a value in PHP
like $var; it is automatically assigned a value of null.
Many novice PHP developers mistakenly
considered both $var1 = NULL; and $var2 = ""; are
same, but this is not true. Both variables are
different — the $var1 has null value
while $var2 indicates no value assigned to it.
PHP Resources
 A resource is a special variable, holding a reference to an
external resource.
 Resource variables typically hold special handlers to opened
files and database connections.
<?php // Open a file for reading
$handle = fopen("note.txt", "r");
var_dump($handle);
echo "<br>";
// Connect to MySQL database server
$link = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "");
var_dump($link);
?>
 PHP Constants
 A constant is a name or an identifier for a fixed value. Constant
are like variables, except that once they are defined, they
cannot be undefined or changed
 Constants are defined using PHP's define() function, which
accepts two arguments: the name of the constant, and its
value.
 a valid constant name must starts with a letter or underscore,
followed by any number of letters, numbers or underscores with
one exception: the $ prefix is not required for constant names.
PHP Operators

 Operators are symbols that tell the PHP

processor to perform certain actions.
Arithmetic Operations
 The arithmetic operators are used to perform
common arithmetical operations, such as addition,
subtraction, multiplication etc. Here's a complete list
of PHP's arithmetic operators:
Operator Description Example

+ Addition $x + $y

- Subtraction $x - $y

* Multiplication $x * $y

/ Division $x / $y

% Modulus $x % $y
PHP Assignment
Operators
 The assignment operators are used to assign

values to variables
 = Assign $x = $y
 += Add and assign $x += $y
 -= Subtract and assign $x -= $y
 *= Multiply and assign $x *=
 /= Divide and assign quotient
$x /= $y
%= Divide and assign modulus
$x %= $y
Concatenation

 Use a period to join strings into one.

<?php
$string1=“Hello”;
$string2=“PHP”;
$string3=$string1 . “ ” .
$string2;
Print $string3;
?>

Hello PHP
Escaping the Character

 If the string has a set of double quotation

marks that must remain visible, use the \
[backslash] before the quotation marks to
ignore and display them.
<?php
$heading=“\”Computer Science\””;
Print $heading;
?>

“Computer Science”
 PHP Control Structures
 Control Structures: Are the structures within a language
that allow us to control the flow of execution through a
program or script.
 Grouped into conditional (branching) structures (e.g.
if/else) and repetition structures (e.g. while loops).
 Example if/else if/else statement:

if ($foo == 0) {
echo ‘The variable foo is equal to 0’;
}
else if (($foo > 0) && ($foo <= 5)) {
echo ‘The variable foo is between 1 and 5’;
}
else {
echo ‘The variable foo is equal to ‘.$foo;
}
If ... Else...

 If (condition) <?php
{ If($user==“John”)
{
Statements;} Print “Hello John.”;

} Else
{
Else }
Print “You are not John.”;

{ ?>

Statement;
} No THEN in PHP
If -elseif
 if (condition)
 {
code to be executed if this condition is true;
}
 elseif (condition)
 {
code to be executed if first condition is false and this
condition is true;
}
 Else
 {
code to be executed if all conditions are false;
}
Switch Case

 switch (n) {
case label1:
code to be executed if n=label1;
break;
...
default:
code to be executed if n is different from all
labels;
}
While Loops
<?php
 While (condition) $count=0;
While($count<3)
{ {
Print “hello PHP. ”;
Statements; $count += 1;
// $count = $count + 1;
} // or
// $count++;
?>

hello PHP. hello PHP. hello PHP.

 For Loops

 For(initialization; condition, decrement/increment)

{
Statements;
}

hello PHP. hello PHP. hello PHP.

For each Loops

 Foreach(arr_nm as key)
{
Statements;
}
 Functions
 Functions MUST be defined before then can be
called
 Function headers are of the format
function functionName($arg_1, $arg_2, …, $arg_n)
 Note that no return type is specified
 Unlike variables, function names are not case
sensitive
 <html> <head> <title>Writing PHP
Function</title> </head> <body>
 <?php
 /* Defining a PHP Function */
 function writeMessage()
 { echo "You are really a nice person, Have a
nice time!"; }
 /* Calling a PHP Function */
 writeMessage(); ?>
 </body>
 </html>
PHP Functions with
Parameters
 <html> <head> <title>Writing PHP Function with

Parameters</title> </head>
 <body>
 <?php function addFunction($num1, $num2)
 { $sum = $num1 + $num2;
 echo "Sum of the two numbers is : $sum";
 }
 addFunction(10, 20); ?>
 </body> </html>
PHP Functions returning
value
 A function can return a value using
the return statement in conjunction with a
value or object. return stops the execution of
the function and sends the value back to the
calling code.
 You can return more than one value from a
function using return array(1,2,3,4).
Passing Arguments by
Reference
<html> <head> <title>


Passing Argument by Reference

 </title> </head> <body>
 <?php
 function addFive($num)
 { $num += 5; }
 function addSix(&$num)
 { $num += 6; }
 $orignum = 10;
 addFive( $orignum );
 echo "Original Value is $orignum<br />";
 addSix( $orignum );
 echo "Original Value is $orignum<br />";
 ?> </body> </html>
Setting Default Values for
Function Parameters
 You can set a parameter to have a default
value if the function's caller doesn't pass it.
 Following function prints NULL in case use
does not pass any value to this function.
 <html> <head> <title>
 Writing PHP Function which returns
value</title> </head> <body>
 <?php
 function printMe($param = “BCA II”)
 { print $param; }
 printMe("This is test");
 printMe();
 ?>
 </body> </html>
Include Files
Include “opendb.php”;
Include “closedb.php”;
This inserts files; the code in files will be inserted into current code.
This will provide useful and protective means once you connect to a
database, as well as for other repeated functions.

Include (“footer.php”);
The file footer.php might look like:

<hr SIZE=11 NOSHADE WIDTH=“100%”>

<i>Copyright © 2008-2010 KSU </i></font><br>
<i>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</i></font><br>
<i>URL: http://www.kent.edu</i></font><br>
 Date Display
$datedisplay=date(“yyyy/m/d”);
2009/4/1 Print $datedisplay;
# If the date is April 1st, 2009
# It would display as 2009/4/1

$datedisplay=date(“l, F m, Y”);
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Print $datedisplay;
# If the date is April 1st, 2009
# Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Month, Day & Date Format
Symbols
M Jan
F January
m 01
n 1

Day of Month d 01
Day of Month J 1
Day of Week l Monday
Day of Week D Mon
 PHP - Forms
•Access to the HTTP POST and GET data is simple in
PHP
•The global variables $_POST[] and $_GET[] contain the
request data
<?php
if ($_POST["submit"])
echo "<h2>You clicked Submit!</h2>";
else if ($_POST["cancel"])
echo "<h2>You clicked Cancel!</h2>";
?>
<form action="form.php" method="post">
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit">
<input type="submit" name="cancel" value="Cancel">
</form>

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~nruan/form.php
 WHY PHP – Sessions ?
Whenever you want to create a website that allows you to store
and display information about a user, determine which user groups
a person belongs to, utilize permissions on your website or you just
want to do something cool on your site, PHP's Sessions are vital to
each of these features.

Cookies are about 30% unreliable right now and it's getting worse
every day. More and more web browsers are starting to come with
security and privacy settings and people browsing the net these
days are starting to frown upon Cookies because they store
information on their local computer that they do not want stored
there.

PHP has a great set of functions that can achieve the same results
of Cookies and more without storing information on the user's
computer. PHP Sessions store the information on the web server in
a location that you chose in special files. These files are connected
to the user's web browser via the server and a special ID called a
"Session ID". This is nearly 99% flawless in operation and it is
 PHP - Sessions
•Sessions store their identifier in a cookie in the client’s browser
•Every page that uses session data must be proceeded by the
session_start() function
•Session variables are then set and retrieved by accessing the
global $_SESSION[]

•Save it as session.php
<?php
session_start();
if (!$_SESSION["count"])
$_SESSION["count"] = 0;
if ($_GET["count"] == "yes")
$_SESSION["count"] = $_SESSION["count"] + 1;
echo "<h1>".$_SESSION["count"]."</h1>";
?>
<a href="session.php?count=yes">Click here to count</a>

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~nruan/session.php
Avoid Error PHP - Sessions
PHP Example: <?php
echo "Look at this nasty error below:<br />";
session_start();
?>
Error!

Warning: Cannot send session cookie - headers already

sent by (output started at
session_header_error/session_error.php:2) in
session_header_error/session_error.php on line 3
Warning: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers
already sent (output started at
session_header_error/session_error.php:2) in
session_header_error/session_error.php on line 3
PHP Example: <?php
session_start();
echo "Look at this nasty error below:";
?>
Correct
 Destroy PHP - Sessions
Destroying a Session
why it is necessary to destroy a session when the session will get
destroyed when the user closes their browser. Well, imagine that
you had a session registered called "access_granted" and you
were using that to determine if the user was logged into your site
based upon a username and password. Anytime you have a login
feature, to make the users feel better, you should have a logout
feature as well. That's where this cool function called
session_destroy() comes in handy. session_destroy() will completely
demolish your session (no, the computer won't blow up or self
destruct) but it just deletes the session files and clears any trace
of that session.
NOTE: If you are using the $_SESSION superglobal array, you
must clear the array values first, then run session_destroy.
Here's how we use session_destroy():
 Destroy PHP - Sessions
<?php
// start the session
session_start();
header("Cache-control: private"); //IE 6 Fix
$_SESSION = array();
session_destroy();
echo "<strong>Step 5 - Destroy This Session
</strong><br />";
if($_SESSION['name']){
echo "The session is still active";
} else {
echo "Ok, the session is no longer active! <br />";
echo "<a href=\"page1.php\"><< Go Back Step
1</a>";
}
http://www.cs.kent.edu/~nruan/session_destroy.php
?>
 PHP Overview
 Easy learning
 Syntax Perl- and C-like syntax. Relatively
easy to learn.
 Large function library
 Embedded directly into HTML
 Interpreted, no need to compile
 Open Source server-side scripting language
designed specifically for the web.
 PHP Overview (cont.)
 Conceived in 1994, now used on +10 million web
sites.
 Outputs not only HTML but can output XML,
images (JPG & PNG), PDF files and even Flash
movies all generated on the fly. Can write these
files to the file system.
 Supports a wide-range of databases (20+ODBC).
 PHP also has support for talking to other services
using protocols such as LDAP, IMAP, SNMP,
NNTP, POP3, HTTP.
 First PHP script
 Save as sample.php:
<!– sample.php -->
<html><body>
<strong>Hello World!</strong><br />
<?php
echo “<h2>Hello, World</h2>”; ?>
<?php
$myvar = "Hello World";
echo $myvar;
?>
</body></html>
http://www.cs.kent.edu/~nruan/sample.php
Example – show data in
the tables
 Function: list all tables in your database.
Users can select one of tables, and show all
contents in this table.

 second.php
 showtable.php

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~nruan/second.php
second.php
<html><head><title>MySQL Table Viewer</title></head><body>
<?php
// change the value of $dbuser and $dbpass to your username and password
$dbhost = 'hercules.cs.kent.edu:3306';
$dbuser = 'nruan';
$dbpass = ‘*****************’;
$dbname = $dbuser;
$table = 'account';
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
if (!$conn) {
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
if (!mysql_select_db($dbname))
die("Can't select database");
second.php (cont.)
$result = mysql_query("SHOW TABLES");
if (!$result) {
die("Query to show fields from table failed");
}
$num_row = mysql_num_rows($result);
echo "<h1>Choose one table:<h1>";
echo "<form action=\"showtable.php\" method=\"POST\">";
echo "<select name=\"table\" size=\"1\" Font size=\"+2\">";
for($i=0; $i<$num_row; $i++) {
$tablename=mysql_fetch_row($result);
echo "<option value=\"{$tablename[0]}\" >{$tablename[0]}</option>";
}
echo "</select>";
echo "<div><input type=\"submit\" value=\"submit\"></div>";
echo "</form>";

mysql_free_result($result);
mysql_close($conn);
?>
</body></html>
showtable.php
<html><head>
<title>MySQL Table Viewer</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
$dbhost = 'hercules.cs.kent.edu:3306';
$dbuser = 'nruan';
$dbpass = ‘**********’;
$dbname = 'nruan';
$table = $_POST[“table”];
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
if (!$conn)
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
if (!mysql_select_db($dbname))
die("Can't select database");
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM {$table}");
if (!$result) die("Query to show fields from table failed!" . mysql_error());
showtable.php (cont.)
$fields_num = mysql_num_fields($result);
echo "<h1>Table: {$table}</h1>";
echo "<table border='1'><tr>";
// printing table headers
for($i=0; $i<$fields_num; $i++) {
$field = mysql_fetch_field($result);
echo "<td><b>{$field->name}</b></td>";
}
echo "</tr>\n";
while($row = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {
echo "<tr>";
// $row is array... foreach( .. ) puts every element
// of $row to $cell variable
foreach($row as $cell)
echo "<td>$cell</td>";
echo "</tr>\n";
}
mysql_free_result($result);
mysql_close($conn);
?>
</body></html>
Functions Covered
 mysql_connect() mysql_select_db()
 include()
 mysql_query() mysql_num_rows()
 mysql_fetch_array() mysql_close()
History of PHP
 PHP began in 1995 when Rasmus Lerdorf developed a
Perl/CGI script toolset he called the Personal Home
Page or PHP
 PHP 2 released 1997 (PHP now stands for Hypertex
Processor). Lerdorf developed it further, using C instead
 PHP3 released in 1998 (50,000 users)
 PHP4 released in 2000 (3.6 million domains).
Considered debut of functional language and including
Perl parsing, with other major features
 PHP5.0.0 released July 13, 2004 (113 libraries>1,000
functions with extensive object-oriented programming)
 PHP5.0.5 released Sept. 6, 2005 for maintenance and
bug fixes
Recommended Texts for
Learning PHP
 Larry Ullman’s books from the Visual Quickpro
series
 PHP & MySQL for Dummies
 Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL: From Novice to
Professional by W. Jason Gilmore
 (This is more advanced and dense than the others,
but great to read once you’ve finished the easier
books. One of the best definition/description of
object oriented programming I’ve read)
 PHP References
http://www.php.net <-- php home page
http://www.phpbuilder.com/
http://www.devshed.com/
http://www.phpmyadmin.net/
http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/
http://geocities.com/stuprojects/ChatroomDescription.htm
http://www.academic.marist.edu/~kbhkj/chatroom/
chatroom.htm
http://www.aus-etrade.com/Scripts/php.php
http://www.codeproject.com/asp/CDIChatSubmit.asp
http://www.php.net/downloads <-- php download page
http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.windows.php <-- php
installation manual
http://php.resourceindex.com/ <-- PHP resources like
sample programs, text book references, etc.
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/forum17.html 
php forums
Create your own homepage
 Login loki.cs.kent.edu
 Create directory “public_html” in your home
directory
 Create two php files (second.php and
showtable.php) we have discussed
 Visit your homepage:
http://www.cs.kent.edu/~[username]/second.php

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~nruan/second.php