PHP echo and print Functions

PHP echo and print

With PHP, there are two basic ways to output data to the screen: echo and print.

The differences are small:

• echo has no return value, while print has a return value of 1 so it can be used in expressions
• echo can take multiple parameters, while print can take only one argument
• echo is marginally faster than print

The PHP echo Function

The echo function can be used with or without parentheses: echo or echo().

echo 'Hello';
echo("Hello");

Output Text

The following example shows how to output text with the echo command (notice that the text can contain HTML markup):

echo "<h2>PHP is Fun!</h2>";
echo "Hello world!<br>";
echo "I'm about to learn PHP!<br>";
echo "This ", "string ", "was ", "made ", "with multiple parameters.";

Output Variables

The following example shows how to output text and variables with the echo statement:

$txt1 = "Learn PHP";
$txt2 = "W3Schools.com";

echo "<h2>$txt1</h2>";
echo "<p>Study PHP at $txt2</p>";

Single or Double Quotes?

Strings are surrounded by quotes, but there is a difference between single and double quotes in PHP.

When using double quotes, variables can be inserted to the string as in the example above.

When using single quotes, variables have to be inserted using the . operator, like this:

$txt1 = "Learn PHP";
$txt2 = "W3Schools.com";

echo '<h2>' . $txt1 . '</h2>';
echo '<p>Study PHP at ' . $txt2 . '</p>';

The PHP print Function

The print function can be used with or without parentheses: print or print().

print "Hello";
print("Hello");

Output Text

The following example shows how to output text with the print command (notice that the text can contain HTML markup):

print "<h2>PHP is Fun!</h2>";
print "Hello world!<br>";
print "I'm about to learn PHP!";

Display Variables

The following example shows how to output text and variables with the print statement:

$txt1 = "Learn PHP";
$txt2 = "W3Schools.com";

print "<h2>$txt1</h2>";
print "<p>Study PHP at $txt2</p>";

Single or Double Quotes?

Strings are surrounded by quotes, but there is a difference between single and double quotes in PHP.

When using double quotes, variables can be inserted to the string as in the example above.

When using single quotes, variables have to be inserted using the . operator, like this:

$txt1 = "Learn PHP";
$txt2 = "W3Schools.com";

print '<h2>' . $txt1 . '</h2>';
print '<p>Study PHP at ' . $txt2 . '</p>';