Differences Between Two Printing Commands In PHP

Navigation

You are here: Free Article Directory » Computers » Programming » Differences Between Two Printing Commands In PHP

Differences Between Two Printing Commands In PHP

by: ZacharySchuessler | Total views: 3 | Word Count: 442 | View PDF | Print View
Share This Article

The Internet for webmasters just wouldn't be the same without the language of PHP. PHP has given webmasters a long-lasting relationship with their websites, to manipulate it to best offer customers and Internet users what they need. But before becoming the master PHP expert, learning smaller details is important. And interestingly enough, many PHP developers don't know the difference between Echo and Print.

Two commands are used to output text to the screen: Print and Echo. But since both do the same thing, why would there be two different commands? The answer, interestingly enough, eludes even some PHP experts.

Print is actually something more of a function, as it can be enclosed in brackets. Echo lacks this ability, but then again, there is almost never a need to do so. In reality, having this ability is something that even those who have seen it all in PHP likely won't need to make use of. This just adds more confusion to the topic than what was previously apparent.

While performance may be a big issue for PHP developers and their clients, the debate between Print and Echo is actually fairly meaningless. It is true that Print will take more system resources to use, but it is such a minimalistic amount that developers are recommended to choose the construct of their choice, regardless of speed issues.

So far the industry standard has been to use Echo, but it should be stressed that either command may be used at will. Echo seems to be the favorite as it is easier to type, not to mention it's a fun word to say! Those who favor the Print command are usually older programmers, who are accustomed to using the command Print from other programming languages that are now considered archaic.

Even though speed should always be an issue, it's important to focus one's attention not on selecting a language construct for printing- but rather how they use it. Too often developers will use multiple Print or Echo calls, only to organize their code. But this can drastically degrade performance if enough calls are made, so it's recommended to choose the language construct of one's choice- but use it wisely.

Closing Comments

Echo and Print will continue to confuse new developers that are learning PHP- this will never change. But as time wears on, it is more likely that the emphasis is going to be put on Echo. Already, there is a large emphasis place on using Echo simply because instructional resources do so. While Print may not be phased out, it will always be in the background for those who remember the "good old days" when the Print command was all a programmer had.
Share This Article