Php Cheatsheet
Basics
Hello World
The echo statement is used to output strings or variables:
<?php
echo "Hello World!";
print "Hello Again!"; // 'print' also works
?>
Note: echo can take multiple parameters (though rarely used), while print
always returns 1 and takes a single argument.
Comments
Single-line comments
// This is a comment
# This is also a comment
Multi-line comments
/*
This is a
multi-line comment
*/
Debugging Functions
• var_dump($var) → Displays structured info (type + value).
• print_r($var) → Prints human-readable info (good for arrays).
• var_export($var) → Returns parsable string representation.
<?php
$names = ["Harry", "Rohan"];
var_dump($names);
print_r($names);
?>
Variables
• Variables start with $ .
• Case-sensitive.
• Must start with a letter or underscore.
<?php
$title = "PHP Cheat Sheet";
$_count = 10;
?>
Constants:
define("PI", 3.14);
echo PI;
Data Types
• String
• Integer
• Float (double)
• Boolean
• Array
• Object
• NULL
• Resource (special variable holding reference to external resources like DB
connections)
Escape Characters
Valid in double-quoted strings and heredoc:
• \n → newline
• \r → carriage return
• \t → tab
• \\ → backslash
• \" → double quote
• \$ → dollar sign
⚠️ \e , \v , \f exist but are rarely useful in PHP.
Operators
Arithmetic
+ - * / % **
Assignment
=, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=, .=
Comparison
==, ===, !=, <>, !==, >, <, >=, <=, <=>
( <> is the same as != ) <=> (spaceship operator) returns -1, 0, 1 .
Increment / Decrement
++$x, $x++, --$x, $x--
Logical
&&, ||, and, or, xor, !
String
. → concatenation .= → concatenation assignment
Array
+ (union), ==, ===, !=, !==
Conditional Operators
Ternary
$result = ($age >= 18) ? "Adult" : "Minor";
Null Coalescing
$username = $_GET['user'] ?? "Guest";
Control Structures
If / Else / Elseif
if ($x > 10) {
echo "Greater";
} elseif ($x == 10) {
echo "Equal";
} else {
echo "Smaller";
}
Switch
switch ($color) {
case "red":
echo "Stop";
break;
case "green":
echo "Go";
break;
default:
echo "Wait";
}
Loops
for ($i=0; $i<5; $i++) { echo $i; }
foreach ($arr as $value) { echo $value; }
foreach ($arr as $key => $value) { echo "$key => $value"; }
while ($x < 5) { $x++; }
do { $x++; } while ($x < 5);
Break / Continue are supported.
Functions
function greet($name = "Guest") {
return "Hello, $name";
}
echo greet("Harry");
• Arguments can have default values.
• Functions can return values.
• PHP supports type declarations:
function add(int $a, int $b): int {
return $a + $b;
}
Superglobals
• $GLOBALS
• $_SERVER
• $_GET
• $_POST
• $_REQUEST
• $_FILES (for uploads)
• $_COOKIE
• $_SESSION
• $_ENV
Arrays
$indexed = ["Harry", "Rohan"];
$assoc = ["name" => "Harry", "age" => 25];
$multi = [
["Volvo", 100],
["BMW", 200]
];
String Functions
strlen("Harry"); // length
str_word_count("Hi all"); // word count
strrev("Harry"); // reverse
strpos("Hello world","world"); // position
str_replace("world","PHP","Hello world"); // replace
File Handling
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");
$content = fread($file, filesize("test.txt"));
fclose($file);
file_put_contents("test.txt","New content");
echo file_get_contents("test.txt");
Error Handling
try {
throw new Exception("Error!");
} catch (Exception $e) {
echo $e->getMessage();
}
OOP in PHP
class Bike {
public $color;
public function __construct($c) { $this->color = $c; }
public function getColor() { return $this->color; }
$myBike = new Bike("red");
echo $myBike->getColor();
Access Modifiers: public, private, protected Other OOP Features: inheritance,
interfaces, traits, abstract classes, namespaces.
Useful Functions
• isset($var) → checks if variable is set
• empty($var) → checks if variable is empty
• unset($var) → destroys variable
• is_array(), is_string(), is_int(), is_null()
