Famous Hello World

[Khaotic]

Yes, I know, easy code. Well, this is just to show some users how easy php is. Without further ado, the code itself:

<?php

echo "Hello World!";

?>

Explanation:
<?php - tells the file that this is php coding. *.php files can contain html by default. The php extention says this is where I want the php to go. You can have multiple php coding in a file.

echo "Hello World!"; - Prints "Hello World" to the screen(without the quotes). When you want to output text or anything that is not a variable or such, wrap it in quotes so php doesnt interpret it as such.

?> - Closes the php code.

[BlaineSch]

Echo is actually a function in PHP you can use it like:

echo("Hello World!"); 

I think that is the proper way of doing it - I suppose deep down everything is made up of functions and variables - then computer language - 0's and 1's - somewhat depressing...

[zeroradius]

Both ways work thou.

@kahotic : You have to crawl before you walk. I am sure some one who has never used PHP before will find it helpful

[Jordan]

Actually, it isn't a function:

echo() is not actually a function (it is a language construct), so you are not required to use parentheses with it

PHP: echo - Manual

[BlaineSch]

Well then - I'm an idiot.

You can still use it like a function however =)

[Jordan]

lol, I wouldn't go that far. You showed an alternative method to use it which some people may prefer (like yourself).

[Khaotic]

Yeh, I remember when I was first learning php(couple years back when I was 11 or so), it said that using parentheses is the correct way of using it. I find it better to just use 'echo' as a keyword rather than "function".

[Jordan]

I've never read that parentheses is the correct way to use it. In fact, in some situations, you can't use parentheses (IE: You are passing multiple parameters to it).

[BlaineSch]

Im pretty sure you can pass multiple params to it if you use the ():

<?PHP
$var1 ="hello";
$var2 = "world";
echo("hello ".$var2);
echo($var1." ".$var2);
echo("hello"." "."world");
?>

I am pretty sure all those would work just like regular functions. (but its not a function lols)

[WingedPanther]

Technically, wouldn't the concatenation happen first, resulting in a single parameter?