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Webmaster Forum / PHP / General PHP Topics / July 2008echo format Q
Hi, Irrelevant question time, probably: Is there any advantage/reason to use one format over the other for the following two types of echo statements? 1. echo "error is " . $error; 2. echo "error is $error"; Obviously I'm talking about longer statements than the samples above, but they do create identical outputs. Line 1 is how most of the code snippets/samples I find are written. But line 2 is a lot less typing and for me at least, easier to keep track of. Maybe it's my gross inexperience showing but the only time I see the ..." . concatenator useful is if I want to print something like "$error is 0"; then it's just echo '$error is ' . $error; but as always, there are still other ways to accomplish it, which I didn't mean to get into here. If you consider this a waste of your time, OK; I understand. But if have an opinion I'd be interested to hear whether there is any advantage of one over the other. Mostly, so that I pick up the preferred habit if nothing else. TIA, Twayne > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > Twayne Google "Premature optimization". Then don't worry about the difference. All a matter of style. Pick the one which suits you best. Because of you ask 100 programmers, you'll get 25 different reasons as to which to use and why. And you'll also get another 75 different answers as to which is the "better" way to do it :-) Seriously - consistency is more important in this case.  Signature================== Remove the "x" from my email address Jerry Stuckle JDS Computer Training Corp. jstucklex@attglobal.net ================== .oO(Twayne) >Irrelevant question time, probably: > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >Obviously I'm talking about longer statements than the samples above, >but they do create identical outputs. 3. echo 'error is ', $error; 4. printf('error is %s', $error); 5. ... Use whatever you like. I prefer embedded variables or printf() if I have to embed multiple variables or complex expressions into a string. Of course with 2. you should use an editor with good syntax highlighting. Micha > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > Twayne Thanks guys; clear/concise responses there, actually . One mentioned consistancy, which was really the root of my question I think. I know enough to almost be dangerous now and am settling in on some "do it this way" things after a long spiel of trying most every different way I could find to do things; which I'm aware I didn't find all of <g>. Thanks much, & Regards, Twayne > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > Twayne Rather than 2. echo "error is $error"; you should get used to using: 2. echo "error is {$error}"; And 1. echo "error is " . $error; is better as: 1. echo 'error is ' . $error; >> Hi, >> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >> 1. echo "error is " . $error; >> 2. echo "error is $error"; ... >> ... Mostly, so that I pick up the >> preferred habit if nothing else. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > is better as: > 1. echo 'error is ' . $error; OHHHHHhhh, now you've gone and done it! I told myself I'd not get into that one yet as it was going to make me look even stupider (is that a word?<g>) than I've already made myself look! :^) OK, I understand: -- Curly braces define begin/end and thus helps avoid spaces etc.; extends a line to multiple lines; keeps things related to each other; and in my case still confuse me; -- because, although I understand echo "error is {$error}"; , I do NOT clearly understand, taking a different sample of, for instance: echo "He drank some {$beer}s"; All the explanations note that 's' is a valid character for variable names, but ... so what? If $beers='beers', then, OH! ... Are these examples trying to say that one cannot make a var plural of, say, $beer='beer' by simply adding the "s" to it? Is THAT what it's trying to point out? Boy, if that's the case, they do a lousy job of it! <g>. I considered deleting the foregoing and rewording it, then decided against deleting it so you can see where my head is. Is the following correct? IF $beer = 'beer' then printing/echoing "beers" is {$beer}s, and NOT $beers ; correct? That seems suspicious to me because I can't see why anyone would try to do it the wrong way in that case. So though I'm not comfortable with that interpretation right now, it's the only one that seems to make sense to me. If that's not the case then I'm still lost: Net.php, w3schools and several tuts all seem to copy each other and explain this part in the same way. So if I'm wrong, then can you explain a differenct significance of the "s" in the examples? I've even seen other forums where they talk about being sure they didn't use an "s" and still don't understand why something didn't work. They seem to talk about "s" as though it's some super-secret-reserved-word or something and for whatever reason never mention any other letter. But it doesn't make sense to me that way either. lol, if I haven't made a completely *clear's mud* post out of this, any clarification/verification would be most appreciated. Also, if you were just trying to confuse me with (['({fact}s'])), then _shame_ on you<g>! Yeah yeah, I know, all newbies have to pay their dues, but ... . TIA, Twayne .oO(Twayne) >OHHHHHhhh, now you've gone and done it! I told myself I'd not get into >that one yet as it was going to make me look even stupider (is that a [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >instance: >echo "He drank some {$beer}s"; This would output "He drank some ", followed by the content of the variable $beer, followed by a literal "s". But what about this: $beer = 5; echo "He drank some $beers"; Which variable would you want PHP to use - $beer or $beers? In fact PHP would try to use $beers, which doesn't exist, so the code will throw a notice. > All the explanations note that 's' is a valid character for variable >names, but ... so what? If $beers='beers', then, OH! ... Are these >examples trying to say that one cannot make a var plural of, say, >$beer='beer' by simply adding the "s" to it? Is THAT what it's >trying to point out? Boy, if that's the case, they do a lousy job of >it! <g>. The {} inside a string just help to avoid ambiguities and allow more complex expressions. See the examples in the manual. http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php#language.types.string.par sing.complex >I considered deleting the foregoing and rewording it, then decided >against deleting it so you can see where my head is. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > then printing/echoing "beers" is {$beer}s, and NOT $beers ; >correct? No, as shown above. The parser sees $beers and tries to use that variable. If you want it to use $beer instead, you have to use curly braces. >That seems suspicious to me because I can't see why anyone >would try to do it the wrong way in that case. So though I'm not [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > So if I'm wrong, then can you explain a differenct significance of >the "s" in the examples? It's not about the "s", it's about the variable names in general and how the parser interprets the string: $bar = 42; print "foo $barr"; print "foo {$bar}r"; Two different things. The {} help to tell the parser exactly how you want it to interpret the string. >lol, if I haven't made a completely *clear's mud* post out of this, any >clarification/verification would be most appreciated. >Also, if you were just trying to confuse me with (['({fact}s'])), then >_shame_ on you<g>! Yeah yeah, I know, all newbies have to pay their >dues, but ... . ;) HTH Micha > .oO(Twayne) > >> OHHHHHhhh, now you've gone and done it! I told myself I'd not get >> into that one yet as it was going to make me look even stupider (is >> that a word?<g>) than I've already made myself look! :^) ... > The {} inside a string just help to avoid ambiguities and allow more > complex expressions. See the examples in the manual. > > http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php#language.types.string.par sing.complex Excellent reference; many thanks. Duly bookmarked & saved. ... > No, as shown above. The parser sees $beers and tries to use that > variable. If you want it to use $beer instead, you have to use curly > braces. Great. I "know" (but didn't recall) that it'd look for what was written, not necessarily what I "meant"<g>. First time I've hooked up curly braces to it, so that's good lesson learned. Learning & experiencing what one learned are two different things. ... > It's not about the "s", it's about the variable names in general and > how the parser interprets the string: THANK YOU! I needed to hear that. > $bar = 42; > print "foo $barr"; > print "foo {$bar}r"; > > Two different things. The {} help to tell the parser exactly how you > want it to interpret the string. As usual when I'm getting started with something new, I overthunk it! So much for the "ThiMk" sign over my desk, too. I have a decent handle on it now, and a couple other things too, based on the link you provided. I always look for phpnet and w3school links when I'm searching but I guess my search terms weren't close enough this time. Once more, thanks for your time & patience, & best regards, Twayne .oO(Twayne) >[...] > >Once more, thanks for your time & patience, & best regards, You're welcome. Micha Message-ID: <LOxbk.275$9W.114@trndny04> from Twayne contained the following: >> It's not about the "s", it's about the variable names in general and >> how the parser interprets the string: > >THANK YOU! I needed to hear that. I just love a good ker-ching moment... SignatureGeoff Berrow 0110001001101100010000000110 001101101011011001000110111101100111001011 100110001101101111001011100111010101101011 >>> Hi, >>> [quoted text clipped - 79 lines] > > Twayne Just keep in mind that the curly braces isolate variables from the rest of the string, and if not using concatenation '.' are required in certain circumstances: $array['car']['make']['color'] = 'silver'; echo "Joe drives a $array['car']['make']['color'] car."; //doesn't work echo "Joe drives a $array[car][make][color] car."; //doesn't work echo "Joe drives a {$array['car']['make']['color']} car."; //works Points to remember: Single quotes around array keys are not needed when the array variable is embedded inside double quoted string. But they are required when using curly braces to isolate the variable. Single quotes around array key names are required inside curly braces. Curly braces are required around multi-dimensional arrays. SignatureNorman Registered Linux user #461062 -Have you been to www.php.net yet?- ... > Just keep in mind that the curly braces isolate variables from the > rest of the string, and if not using concatenation '.' are required in [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Curly braces are required around multi-dimensional arrays. Hmm, that's wording I can remember and good clarification that's worthy of my lists too. Thanks, Norman Twayne |
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