book

Programming PHP, 4th Edition

by Kevin Tatroe, Peter MacIntyre

March 2020

Intermediate to advanced

542 pages

12h 22m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Book available

Read now

Unlock full access

AudienceAssumptions This Book MakesContents of This BookConventions Used in This BookO’Reilly Online LearningHow to Contact UsAcknowledgmentsKevin TatroePeter MacIntyre
What Does PHP Do?A Brief History of PHPThe Evolution of PHPThe Widespread Use of PHPInstalling PHPA Walk Through PHPConfiguration PageFormsDatabasesGraphicsWhat’s Next
Lexical StructureCase SensitivityStatements and SemicolonsWhitespace and Line BreaksCommentsLiteralsIdentifiersKeywordsData TypesIntegersFloating-Point NumbersStringsBooleansArraysObjectsResourcesCallbacksNULLVariablesVariable VariablesVariable ReferencesVariable ScopeGarbage CollectionExpressions and OperatorsNumber of OperandsOperator PrecedenceOperator AssociativityImplicit CastingArithmetic OperatorsString Concatenation OperatorAuto-Increment and Auto-Decrement OperatorsComparison OperatorsBitwise OperatorsLogical OperatorsCasting OperatorsAssignment OperatorsMiscellaneous OperatorsFlow-Control Statementsif switchwhileforforeachtry...catchdeclareexit and returngotoIncluding CodeEmbedding PHP in Web PagesStandard (XML) StyleSGML StyleEchoing Content DirectlyWhat’s Next
Calling a FunctionDefining a FunctionVariable ScopeGlobal VariablesStatic VariablesFunction ParametersPassing Parameters by ValuePassing Parameters by ReferenceDefault ParametersVariable ParametersMissing ParametersType HintingReturn ValuesVariable FunctionsAnonymous FunctionsWhat’s Next
Quoting String ConstantsVariable InterpolationSingle-Quoted StringsDouble-Quoted StringsHere DocumentsPrinting Stringsechoprint()printf()print_r() and var_dump()Accessing Individual CharactersCleaning StringsRemoving WhitespaceChanging CaseEncoding and EscapingHTMLURLsSQLC-String EncodingComparing StringsExact ComparisonsApproximate EqualityManipulating and Searching StringsSubstringsMiscellaneous String FunctionsDecomposing a StringString-Searching FunctionsRegular ExpressionsThe BasicsCharacter ClassesAlternativesRepeating SequencesSubpatternsDelimitersMatch BehaviorCharacter ClassesAnchorsQuantifiers and GreedNoncapturing GroupsBackreferencesTrailing OptionsInline OptionsLookahead and LookbehindCutConditional ExpressionsFunctionsDifferences from Perl Regular ExpressionsWhat’s Next
Indexed Versus Associative ArraysIdentifying Elements of an ArrayStoring Data in ArraysAppending Values to an ArrayAssigning a Range of ValuesGetting the Size of an ArrayPadding an ArrayMultidimensional ArraysExtracting Multiple ValuesSlicing an ArraySplitting an Array into ChunksKeys and ValuesChecking Whether an Element ExistsRemoving and Inserting Elements in an ArrayConverting Between Arrays and VariablesCreating Variables from an ArrayCreating an Array from VariablesTraversing ArraysThe foreach ConstructThe Iterator FunctionsUsing a for LoopCalling a Function for Each Array ElementReducing an ArraySearching for ValuesSortingSorting One Array at a TimeNatural-Order SortingSorting Multiple Arrays at OnceReversing ArraysRandomizing OrderActing on Entire ArraysCalculating the Sum of an ArrayMerging Two ArraysCalculating the Difference Between Two ArraysFiltering Elements from an ArrayUsing Arrays to Implement Data TypesSetsStacksImplementing the Iterator InterfaceWhat’s Next
ObjectsTerminologyCreating an ObjectAccessing Properties and MethodsDeclaring a ClassDeclaring MethodsDeclaring PropertiesDeclaring ConstantsInheritanceInterfacesTraitsAbstract MethodsConstructorsDestructorsAnonymous ClassesIntrospectionExamining ClassesExamining an ObjectSample Introspection ProgramSerializationWhat’s Next
What’s Next
HTTP BasicsVariablesServer InformationProcessing FormsMethodsParametersSelf-Processing PagesSticky FormsMultivalued ParametersSticky Multivalued ParametersFile UploadsForm ValidationSetting Response HeadersDifferent Content TypesRedirectionsExpirationAuthenticationMaintaining StateCookiesSessionsCombining Cookies and SessionsSSLWhat’s Next

Using PHP to Access a DatabaseRelational Databases and SQLPHP Data ObjectsMySQLi Object InterfaceRetrieving Data for DisplaySQLiteDirect File-Level ManipulationMongoDBRetrieving DataInserting More Complex DataWhat’s Next
Embedding an Image in a PageBasic Graphics ConceptsCreating and Drawing ImagesThe Structure of a Graphics ProgramChanging the Output FormatTesting for Supported Image FormatsReading an Existing FileBasic Drawing FunctionsImages with TextFontsTrueType FontsDynamically Generated ButtonsCaching the Dynamically Generated ButtonsA Faster CacheScaling ImagesColor HandlingUsing the Alpha ChannelIdentifying ColorsTrue Color IndexesText Representation of an ImageWhat’s Next
PDF ExtensionsDocuments and PagesA Simple ExampleInitializing the DocumentOutputting Basic Text CellsTextCoordinatesText AttributesPage Headers, Footers, and Class ExtensionImages and LinksTables and DataWhat’s Next
Lightning Guide to XMLGenerating XMLParsing XMLElement HandlersCharacter Data HandlerProcessing InstructionsEntity HandlersDefault HandlerOptionsUsing the ParserErrorsMethods as HandlersSample Parsing ApplicationParsing XML with the DOMParsing XML with SimpleXMLTransforming XML with XSLTWhat’s Next
Using JSONSerializing PHP ObjectsOptionsWhat’s Next
SafeguardsFiltering InputEscaping Output DataSecurity VulnerabilitiesCross-Site ScriptingSQL InjectionFilename VulnerabilitiesSession FixationFile Upload TrapsUnauthorized File AccessPHP Code IssuesShell Command WeaknessesData Encryption ConcernsFurther ResourcesSecurity RecapWhat’s Next
Code LibrariesTemplating SystemsHandling OutputOutput BufferingOutput CompressionPerformance TuningBenchmarkingProfilingOptimizing Execution TimeOptimizing Memory RequirementsReverse Proxies and ReplicationWhat’s Next
REST ClientsResponsesRetrieving ResourcesUpdating ResourcesCreating ResourcesDeleting ResourcesXML-RPCServersClientsWhat’s Next
The Development EnvironmentThe Staging EnvironmentThe Production Environmentphp.ini SettingsError HandlingError ReportingExceptionsError SuppressionTriggering ErrorsDefining Error HandlersManual DebuggingError LogsIDE DebuggingAdditional Debugging TechniquesWhat’s Next
Writing Portable Code for Windows and UnixDetermining the PlatformHandling Paths Across PlatformsNavigating the Server EnvironmentSending MailEnd-of-Line HandlingEnd-of-File HandlingUsing External CommandsAccessing Platform-Specific ExtensionsInterfacing with COMBackgroundPHP FunctionsAPI Specifications
PHP Functions by CategoryArraysClasses and ObjectsData FilteringDate and TimeDirectoriesErrors and LoggingFilesystemFunctionsMailMathMiscellaneous FunctionsNetworkOutput BufferingPHP Language TokenizerPHP Options/InfoProgram ExecutionSession HandlingStreamsStringsURLsVariablesZlibAlphabetical Listing of PHP Functions

Content preview from Programming PHP, 4th Edition

Chapter 1. Introduction to PHP

PHP is a simple yet powerful language designed for creating HTML content. This chapter covers essential background on the PHP language. It describes the nature and history of PHP, which platforms it runs on, and how to configure it. This chapter ends by showing you PHP in action, with a quick walkthrough of several PHP programs that illustrate common tasks, such as processing form data, interacting with a database, and creating graphics.

What Does PHP Do?

PHP can be used in two primary ways:

Server-side scripting: PHP was originally designed to create dynamic web content, and it is still best suited for that task. To generate HTML, you need the PHP parser and a web server through which to send the coded document files. PHP has also become popular for generating dynamic content via database connections, XML documents, graphics, PDF files, and so much more.
Command-line scripting: PHP can run scripts from the command line, much like Perl, awk, or the Unix shell. You might use the command-line scripts for system administration tasks, such as backup and log parsing; even some CRON job–type scripts can be done this way (as nonvisual PHP tasks).

In this book, however, we concentrate on the first item: using PHP to develop dynamic web content.

PHP runs on all major operating systems, from Unix variants (including Linux, FreeBSD, Ubuntu, Debian, and Solaris) to Windows and macOS. It can be used with all leading web servers, including the Apache, Nginx, ...