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Reference Guide: What does this symbol mean in PHP? (PHP Syntax)


What is this?

This is a collection of questions that come up now and then about syntax in PHP. This is also a Community Wiki, so everyone is invited to participate in maintaining this list.

This question shouldn't be used as a dupe target for closing questions. Use actual questions linked here as dupe targets instead.

Why is this?

It used to be hard to find questions about operators and other syntax tokens.¹
The main idea is to have links to existing questions on Stack Overflow, so it's easier for us to reference them, and not to copy over content from the PHP Manual.

Note: Since January 2013, Stack Overflow does support special characters. Just surround the search terms by quotes, e.g. [php] "==" vs "==="

What should I do here?

If you have been pointed here by someone because you have asked such a question, please find the particular syntax below. The linked pages to the PHP manual along with the linked questions will likely answer your question then. If so, you are encouraged to upvote the answer. This list is not meant as a substitute for the help others provide.

The List

If your particular token is not listed below, you might find it in the List of Parser Tokens.


& Bitwise Operators or References


=& References


&= Bitwise Operators


&& Logical Operators


% Arithmetic Operators


!! Logical Operators


@ Error Control Operators


?: Ternary Operator


Double question mark

?? Null Coalesce Operator (since PHP 7)


A question mark followed by a type declaration

?string ?int ?array ?bool ?float Nullable type declaration (since PHP 7.1)


?-> question mark followed by object operator is a NullSafe Operator (since PHP 8.0)


: Alternative syntax for control structures, Ternary Operator, Return Type Declaration


:: Scope Resolution Operator


\ Namespaces


-> Classes And Objects


=> Arrays


^ Bitwise Operators


>> Bitwise Operators


<< Bitwise Operators


<<< Heredoc or Nowdoc


= Assignment Operators


== Comparison Operators


=== Comparison Operators


!== Comparison Operators


!= Comparison Operators


<> Comparison Operators


<=> Comparison Operators (since PHP 7.0)


| Bitwise Operators


|| Logical Operators


~ Bitwise Operators


+ Arithmetic Operators, Array Operators


+= and -= Assignment Operators


++ and -- Incrementing/Decrementing Operators


.= Assignment Operators


. String Operators


, Function Arguments

, Variable Declarations


$$ Variable Variables


` Execution Operator


<?= Short Open Tags


[] Arrays (short syntax since PHP 5.4)


<? Opening and Closing tags


.. Double-dot character range


... Argument unpacking (since PHP 5.6)


** Exponentiation (since PHP 5.6)


# One-line shell-style comment


#[] Attributes (since PHP 8)



Solution

  • Incrementing / Decrementing Operators

    ++ increment operator

    -- decrement operator

    Example    Name              Effect
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    ++$a       Pre-increment     Increments $a by one, then returns $a.
    $a++       Post-increment    Returns $a, then increments $a by one.
    --$a       Pre-decrement     Decrements $a by one, then returns $a.
    $a--       Post-decrement    Returns $a, then decrements $a by one.
    

    These can go before or after the variable.

    If put before the variable, the increment/decrement operation is done to the variable first then the result is returned. If put after the variable, the variable is first returned, then the increment/decrement operation is done.

    For example:

    $apples = 10;
    for ($i = 0; $i < 10; ++$i) {
        echo 'I have ' . $apples-- . " apples. I just ate one.\n";
    }
    

    Live example

    In the case above ++$i is used, since it is faster. $i++ would have the same results.

    Pre-increment is a little bit faster because it really increments the variable and after that 'returns' the result. Post-increment creates a special variable, copies there the value of the first variable and only after the first variable is used, replaces its value with second's.

    However, you must use $apples--, since first, you want to display the current number of apples, and then you want to subtract one from it.

    You can also increment letters in PHP:

    $i = "a";
    while ($i < "c") {
        echo $i++;
    }
    

    Once z is reached aa is next, and so on.

    Note that character variables can be incremented but not decremented and even so only plain ASCII characters (a-z and A-Z) are supported.


    Stack Overflow Posts: