String variables are used to store and process text.
String variables in PHP
String variables are used for values that contain characters.
After creating the string, we can operate on it. You can use the string directly in the function or store it in a variable.
Example
##In the following example, we Create a string variable named txt and assign it the value "Hello world!". Then we output the value of the txt variable:
<?php
$txt="Hello world!";
echo $txt;
?>
When you assign a text value to a variable, please remember to add
Single quotes or double quotes.
Now, let’s take a look at some commonly used functions and operators for manipulating strings.
##PHP Concatenation Operator
In PHP, there is only one string operator.
Concatenation operator. (dot) is used to concatenate two string values.
Example
##The following example demonstrates how to Two string variables are concatenated together:
<?php
$txt1="Hello world!";
$txt2="What a nice day!";
echo $txt1 . " ---" . $txt2;
?>
In the above code, we have used the concatenation operator twice . This is because we need to insert ---
between the two strings.
PHP strlen() function
#Sometimes it is useful to know the length of a string value.
strlen()
The function returns the length of the string (number of characters).
Note: Under UTF-8 strlen counts Chinese characters as 3 bytes, English, spaces, and symbols occupy 1 byte.
Example
<?php
$name="我";
echo strlen($name);
echo "<br>";
echo strlen("Hello world!");
?>
##Tip: strlen() is often used in loops and other functions, when it is important to determine when the string ends. (For example, in a loop, we need to end the loop after the last character of
in the string.)
##PHP strpos() function
strpos() function is used in Search for a character or a specified text within a string.
If a match is found in the string, this function returns the first matching character position. If no match is found, returns FALSE.
Example The following example finds the text "world" in the string "Hello world!":
<?php
echo strpos("Hello world!","world");
?>
Tips
: In the above example, the position of the string "world" is 6. The reason it's 6 instead of 7 is that the first character in the string is at position 0, not 1.
##Complete PHP String Reference Manual
For a complete reference manual for all string functions, visit our PHP String Reference Manual.
This reference manual provides a brief description and application examples of each function!
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