To find out the full details of any given variable in PHP, use the handy var_dump() function as follows: This will show you the PHP variable type, its value, and if it is an object or array. The structure and all information will be output recursively. The only slight disadvantage to using var_dump() is that…
If you have a problem debugging any PHP code, a good first step is ensuring all errors are showing. Simply use the following code at the beginning of your script: You may find that the server you are using or the code written by somebody else is hiding too many errors for you to work…
An excellent alternative method to assigning string variables is to use the heredoc syntax. If you are assigning long strings of text with characters that need escaping, try this: To me, it looks a bit messy at first, but it does make large chunks of text more readable in your code. Consider this alternative to…
As an example, if you have an array of users with an ID field as the key and the username as the value, such as: You may want to perform an action on or with each of these array elements. If the array is assigned to the value $users you can loop through easily and…
In most applications, there is a need for set values that do not change during the execution of a script. Examples of these values are: A bad way to handle these values is to “hard code” them. This is the process of inserting the values in your code as and when you need them. This…
REGISTER_GLOBALS is a PHP directive that, when enabled, automatically initialises variables with the values from forms, sessions, GET etc. For example, the data in a login form with the input fields named “username” and “password” will automatically be available as $username and $password. REGISTER_GLOBALS is, in my opinion, very bad practice and should be avoided…
Try this for a simple way to echo a variable in your HTML template files: You can also use this to show the return value of a function: This requires the PHP directive short_open_tag to be set to 1 (done via php.ini or .htaccess). Most hosts will have this set to 1 by default although…
Nice and simple one.. If you want to see whats in an entire array, use the print_r function. This will give you a nicely formatted output of the array showing all dimensions. Try it: {code type=php}$anArray = array(0=>’cheese’,1=>’bacon’,2=>’apples’); print_r($anArray); {/code} Tip if you are viewing this via the output of a webpage, view the source…
Many people seem to be confused with the use of quotes and apostrophes when coding in PHP. Using apostrophes is the lightweight way. Use these when you just want to create a simple string: Using quotes will provide you with a bit more functionality and is slightly more expensive in execution: Please also note that…
There are some instances where you want to redirect the user away from the current page. For example, the user needs to be logged in, so you want them redirected to the login page. In PHP, this can be done like so: If you employ this method, remember that the script will continue after the…
