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1.5 PHP Variables

Variables are "containers" for storing information.

Creating (Declaring) PHP Variables

In PHP, a variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the variable:

<?php
$txt = "Hello world!";
$x = 5;
$y = 10.5;
?>

After the execution of the statements above, the variable $txt will hold the value Hello world!, the variable $x will hold the value 5, and the variable $y will hold the value 10.5.
Note: When you assign a text value to a variable, put quotes around the value.
Note: Unlike other programming languages, PHP has no command for declaring a variable. It is created the moment you first assign a value to it.
Think of variables as containers for storing data.

A variable can have a short name (like x and y) or a more descriptive name (age, carname, total_volume).
Rules for PHP variables:
- A variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the variable
- A variable name must start with a letter or the underscore character
- A variable name cannot start with a number
- A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters and underscores (A-z, 0-9, and _ )
- Variable names are case-sensitive ($age and $AGE are two different variables)
Remember that PHP variable names are case-sensitive!

<?php
$txt = "W3Schools.com";
echo "I love $txt!";
?>

The following example will produce the same output as the example above:

<?php
$txt = "W3Schools.com";
echo "I love " . $txt . "!";
?>

The following example will output the sum of two variables:

<?php
$x = 5;
$y = 4;
echo $x + $y;
?>

Note: You will learn more about the echo statement and how to output data to the screen in the next chapter.

In the example above, notice that we did not have to tell PHP which data type the variable is.
PHP automatically associates a data type to the variable, depending on its value. Since the data types are not set in a strict sense, you can do things like adding a string to an integer without causing an error.
In PHP 7, type declarations were added. This gives an option to specify the data type expected when declaring a function, and by enabling the strict requirement, it will throw a "Fatal Error" on a type mismatch.
You will learn more about strict and non-strict requirements, and data type declarations in the PHP Functions chapter.

PHP Fundamentals course home
Module 1. Introduction to PHP

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