PHP | echo and print

We have seen echo statement quite frequently in PHP codes of previous articles.It is the most basic way for displaying output in PHP.

However, there are two basic ways to get output in

PHP:-

1- echo

2- print

PHP echo statement

In PHP ‘echo’ statement is a language construct and never behaves like a function, hence no parenthesis required. The end of echo statement is identified by the semi-colon (‘;’). We can use ‘echo’ to output strings or variables. Below are some of the usage of echo statement in PHP:

1- Displaying Strings: We can simply use the keyword echo followed by the string to be displayed withing quotes. Below example shows how to display strings with PHP:

<?php

echo "Hello,This is a display string example!";

?>

Output:

Hello,This is a display string example!

2- Displaying Strings as multiple arguments: We can pass multiple string arguments to the echo statement instead of single string argument, separating them by comma (‘,’) operator. For example, if we have two strings say “Hello” and “World” then we can pass them as (“Hello”,”World”). Below example shows how to do this:

<?php

echo "Multiple ","argument ","string!";

?>

Output:

Multiple argument string!

3- Displaying Variables: Displaying variables with echo statement is also as easy as displaying normal strings. Below example shows different ways to display variables with the help of PHP echo statement:-

<?php

//defining the variables

$text = "Hello, World!";

$num1 = 10;

$num2 = 20;

//echoing the variables

echo $text."\n";

echo $num1."+".$num2."=";

echo $num1 + $num2; ?>

Output:

Hello, World!
10+20=30

PHP print statement

The PHP print statement is similar to the echo statement and can be used alternative to echo at many times.It is also language construct and so we may not use parenthesis : print or print(). The main difference between the print and echo statement is that print statement can have only one argument at a time and thus can print a single string. Also, print statement always returns a value 1. Like echo, print statement can also be used to print strings and variables. Below are some examples of using print statement in PHP:

1- Displaying String of Text:

We can display strings with print statement in the same way we did with echo statements. The only difference is we can not display multiple strings separated by comma(,) with a single print statement. Below example shows how to display strings with the help of PHP print statement:-

<?php

print "Hello, world!";

?>

Output:

Hello, world!

2- Displaying Variables:

Displaying variables with print statement is also same as that of echo statement. The example below shows how to display variables with the help of PHP print statement:-

<?php

//defining the variables

$text = "Hello, World!";

$num1 = 10;

$num2 = 20;

//echoing the variables

print $text."\n";

print $num1."+".$num2."=";

print $num1 + $num2;

?>

Output:

Hello, World!
10+20=30