Echo and print

Anon

I'm just learning PHP and having fun with it. I've read the parts of the manual that apply to the bits I'm using and I've been through the PHP Developer's Cookbook. I'm a little confused about the echo and print commands.

Is there a best/worst place to use either?

Can you mix them together without worrying about it?

What's the difference between the two? It seems print gives you more flexibility with formatted output.

Thanks,

Hank

Anon

Actually there's no difference between 'echo', 'print' and 'printf'. You can use them the same way, for example:

echo "Bababa = $variable\n";

print "Bababa = $variable\t$variable2\n";

printf("I've got $variable\t$variable2\t$variable3");

And you can use any of them do display variable only:

echo $variable;
print $variable;
printf($variable);

Hope you got it...

Anon

Thank you very much.

Hank

polson

Actually, these three are all different, printf especially.

Here's a faq on difference between print and echo :

http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/view.phtml/aid/1/fid/40

Regarding misuse of printf, have a look here :

http://zend.com/zend/art/mistake.php

Anon

Actually, that is completely false. Their are big differences between Echo and Print and Printf(). Please, check the manual

http://www.php.net/echo
http://www.php.net/print
http://www.php.net/printf

1) Echo does not return a value.
2) Print does return a value.

Generally, you want to stick with echo, as it is faster than print.

You can get more information here:
http://www.e-gineer.com/articles/php-hackers-paradise.phtml
Go to section 4.5.2 Echo vs Print

knickerlas

Most people think it's a matter of preference, printf aside, echo maybe faster? but does not return a value and print works a bit more like any other function.
I always use print as it makes my code easier to read if I see all functions similarly and think of them all similarly.
Most older PHP programmers use echo and newer ones print as I believe there was only echo in the beginning (not 100% on that)

Interesting subject isn't it?

Nick

Anon

Thanks to all. Now I also have a couple more web sites to study.

Hank