Tuesday, 1 January 2013

PHP Looping



PHP Looping

Looping statements in PHP are used to execute the same block of code a specified number of times.


Looping

Very often when you write code, you want the same block of code to run a number of times. You can use looping statements in your code to perform this.
In PHP we have the following looping statements:
  • while - loops through a block of code if and as long as a specified condition is true
  • do...while - loops through a block of code once, and then repeats the loop as long as a special condition is true
  • for - loops through a block of code a specified number of times
  • foreach - loops through a block of code for each element in an array


The while Statement

The while statement will execute a block of code if and as long as a condition is true.

Syntax

while (condition)
code to be executed;

Example

The following example demonstrates a loop that will continue to run as long as the variable i is less than, or equal to 5. i will increase by 1 each time the loop runs:
<html>
<body>
<?php 
$i=1;
while($i<=5)
  {
  echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />";
  $i++;
  }
?>
</body>
</html>



The do...while Statement

The do...while statement will execute a block of code at least once - it then will repeat the loop as long as a condition is true.

Syntax

do
{
code to be executed;
}
while (condition);

Example

The following example will increment the value of i at least once, and it will continue incrementing the variable i as long as it has a value of less than 5:
<html>
<body>
<?php 
$i=0;
do
  {
  $i++;
  echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />";
  }
while ($i<5);
?>
</body>
</html>



The for Statement

The for statement is used when you know how many times you want to execute a statement or a list of statements.

Syntax

for (initialization; condition; increment)
{
  code to be executed;
}
Note: The for statement has three parameters. The first parameter initializes variables, the second parameter holds the condition, and the third parameter contains the increments required to implement the loop. If more than one variable is included in the initialization or the increment parameter, they should be separated by commas. The condition must evaluate to true or false.

Example

The following example prints the text "Hello World!" five times:
<html>
<body>
<?php
for ($i=1; $i<=5; $i++)
{
  echo "Hello World!<br />";
}
?>
</body>
</html>



The foreach Statement

The foreach statement is used to loop through arrays.
For every loop, the value of the current array element is assigned to $value (and the array pointer is moved by one) - so on the next loop, you'll be looking at the next element.

Syntax

foreach (array as value)
{
    code to be executed;
}

Example

The following example demonstrates a loop that will print the values of the given array:
<html>
<body>
<?php
$arr=array("one", "two", "three");
foreach ($arr as $value)
{
  echo "Value: " . $value . "<br />";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

PHP Functions

The real power of PHP comes from its functions.
In PHP - there are more than 700 built-in functions available.


PHP Functions

In this tutorial we will show you how to create your own functions.
For a reference and examples of the built-in functions, please visit our PHP Reference.


Create a PHP Function

A function is a block of code that can be executed whenever we need it.

Creating PHP functions:
  • All functions start with the word "function()"
  • Name the function - It should be possible to understand what the function does by its name. The name can start with a letter or underscore (not a number)
  • Add a "{"  - The function code starts after the opening curly brace
  • Insert the function code
  • Add a "}"  - The function is finished by a closing curly brace

Example

A simple function that writes my name when it is called:
<html>
<body>
<?php
function writeMyName()
  {
  echo "Kai Jim Refsnes";
  }
writeMyName();
?>
</body>
</html>



Use a PHP Function

Now we will use the function in a PHP script:
<html>
<body>
<?php
function writeMyName()
  {
  echo "Kai Jim Refsnes";
  }
echo "Hello world!<br />";
echo "My name is ";
writeMyName();
echo ".<br />That's right, ";
writeMyName();
echo " is my name.";
?>
</body>
</html>
The output of the code above will be:
Hello world!
My name is Kai Jim Refsnes.
That's right, Kai Jim Refsnes is my name.



PHP Functions - Adding parameters

Our first function (writeMyName()) is a very simple function. It only writes a static string.
To add more functionality to a function, we can add parameters. A parameter is just like a variable.
You may have noticed the parentheses after the function name, like: writeMyName(). The parameters are specified inside the parentheses.

Example 1

The following example will write different first names, but the same last name:
<html>
<body>
<?php
function writeMyName($fname)
  {
  echo $fname . " Refsnes.<br />";
  }
echo "My name is ";
writeMyName("Kai Jim");
echo "My name is ";
writeMyName("Hege");
echo "My name is ";
writeMyName("Stale");
?>
</body>
</html>
The output of the code above will be:
My name is Kai Jim Refsnes.
My name is Hege Refsnes.
My name is Stale Refsnes.

Example 2

The following function has two parameters:
<html>
<body>
<?php
function writeMyName($fname,$punctuation)
  {
  echo $fname . " Refsnes" . $punctuation . "<br />";
  }
echo "My name is ";
writeMyName("Kai Jim",".");
echo "My name is ";
writeMyName("Hege","!");
echo "My name is ";
writeMyName("Ståle","...");
?>
</body>
</html>
The output of the code above will be:
My name is Kai Jim Refsnes.
My name is Hege Refsnes!
My name is Ståle Refsnes...
 


PHP Functions - Return values

Functions can also be used to return values.

Example

<html>
<body>
<?php
function add($x,$y)
  {
  $total = $x + $y;
  return $total;
  }
echo "1 + 16 = " . add(1,16)
?>
</body>
</html>
The output of the code above will be:
1 + 16 = 17

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