- Look up Internet access stats
Statistics
- Database engine rankings:
- Programming language rankings:
- Web server ranking:
- OS market share:
- https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share General examples of many concepts covered in class
- https://github.com/dbierer/classic_php_examples Great explanation on how PHP works
- https://www.zend.com/blog/exploring-new-php-jit-compiler An alternative way to run PHP is in "async" mode
- https://www.zend.com/blog/swoole Lots of PHP 8 specific examples
- https://github.com/dbierer/PHP-8-Programming-Tips-Tricks-and-Best-Practices Default location for test programs:
/home/vagrant/Zend/workspaces/DefaultWorkspace/sandbox/public
- To access from that directory:
http://sandbox/NAME_OF_PROGRAM.php
Attributes
can be used in PHP 8 in place of docblocks
<?php
/**
* Adds two integers
*
* @param int $a
* @param int $b
* @return int $result
*/
function add(int $a, int $b) : int
{
return $a + $b;
}
echo add(2,2);
echo "\n";
#[description("Adds two integers") ]
#[int(a) ]
#[int(b) ]
#[returns(a - b)]
function sub(int $a, int $b) : int
{
return $a - $b;
}
echo sub(2,2);
echo "\n";
You can also use words for logicals:
// you can use words instead of symbols:
$foo = 10;
$bar = 5;
echo ($foo == 10 and $bar == 5); // 1
$foo = 5;
$bar = 10;
echo ($foo != $bar or $foo > $bar); // 1
echo ($foo != $bar xor $foo > $bar); // 1
Recommended: use shell_exec()
instead of back tics
<?php
// this will go away:
echo `ls -lha`;
// recommended
echo shell_exec('ls -lha');
Flattening or "unpacking" arrays:
<?php
$abc = ['A','B','C'];
$def = ['D','E','F'];
// this ends up with 2 element, each a sub-array
$foo = [$abc, $def];
// this "flattens" the two arrays and you end with
// a single 1 dimensioned array
$bar = [...$abc, ...$def];
var_dump($foo, $bar);
"Packing" an array by using the variadics operator as in the function signature
<?php
// Argument packing
$foo = 10;
$bar = 5;
$baz = 99;
// this use of the variadics operator
// has the effect of "packing" the array
function sum(...$args){
// if you allow for an unlimited # arguments
// you need to write you function to account for that
return array_sum($args);
}
echo sum($foo, $bar, $baz, 9999); // 15
Arrays auto-assign indices as the next highest value. The order of the indices has no bearing on the order elements are stored. Elements are stored in the order received.
<?php
$a[1] = 'A';
$a[3] = 'B';
$a[2] = 'C';
$a[6] = 'D';
$a[] = 'E';
$a[4] = 'F';
$a[] = 'G';
var_dump($a);
// output:
/*
home/vagrant/Zend/workspaces/DefaultWorkspace/sandbox/public/test.php:10:
array(7) {
[1] =>
string(1) "A"
[3] =>
string(1) "B"
[2] =>
string(1) "C"
[6] =>
string(1) "D"
[7] =>
string(1) "E"
[4] =>
string(1) "F"
[8] =>
string(1) "G"
}
*/
When assigning multi-dimensional arrays, if the values are known in advance, use this style:
<?php
// Build the crew
$mission = [
'STS395' => [
['firstName' => 'Mark', 'lastName' => 'Watney', 'specialty' => 'Botanist'],
['firstName' => 'Melissa', 'lastName' => 'Lewis', 'specialty' => 'Commander'],
['firstName' => 'Beth', 'lastName' => 'Johanssen', 'specialty' => 'Computer Specialist'],
]
];
// Output all elements
print_r($mission);
When rendering numeric values, PHP defaults to decimal (i.e. base 10) If you want other formats, use one of these options:
NumberFormatter
classnumber_format()
functionprintf()
family of functions (uses a format string)
All incoming data is suspect
- Filter validate and sanitize all suspect data
- Escape suspect data upon output
echo htmlspecialchars($name);
- Usually the web server is configured to recognize PHP in certain directories
- In the VM: the config files are here:
/etc/apache2/sites-available
/etc/apache2/sites-enabled
Use of null coalesce operator vs. ternary
<?php
// null coalesce operator
$id = $_GET['id'] ?? $_POST['id'] ?? $_SESSION['id'] ?? $_COOKIE['id'] ?? 0;
// same thing with nested ternary ops:
// in PHP 8 use of parentheses are mandatory
// NOT recommended!
$id = ((!empty($_GET['id']))
? $_GET['id']
: ((!empty($_POST['id']))
? $_POST['id']
: ((!empty($_SESSION['id']))
? $_SESSION['id']
: 0)));
Example of nested foreach()
loops
<?php
$mission = [
'STS395' => [
['firstName' => 'Fred', 'lastName' => 'Flintstone', 'specialty' => 'Caveman'],
['firstName' => 'Barney', 'lastName' => 'Rubble', 'specialty' => 'Caveman Assistant'],
],
'STS396' => [
['firstName' => 'Mark', 'lastName' => 'Watney', 'specialty' => 'Botanist'],
['firstName' => 'Melissa', 'lastName' => 'Lewis', 'specialty' => 'Commander'],
['firstName' => 'Beth', 'lastName' => 'Johanssen', 'specialty' => 'Computer Specialist'],
],
];
foreach ($mission as $key => $value) {
echo "Mission: $key\n";
foreach ($value as $i => $entry) {
echo $entry['firstName'] . ' ' . $entry['lastName'] . "\n";
}
}
Example of unpacking an array into individual variables:
<?php
$mission = [
'STS395' => [
['firstName' => 'Fred', 'lastName' => 'Flintstone', 'specialty' => 'Caveman'],
['firstName' => 'Barney', 'lastName' => 'Rubble', 'specialty' => 'Caveman Assistant'],
],
'STS396' => [
['firstName' => 'Mark', 'lastName' => 'Watney', 'specialty' => 'Botanist'],
['firstName' => 'Melissa', 'lastName' => 'Lewis', 'specialty' => 'Commander'],
['firstName' => 'Beth', 'lastName' => 'Johanssen', 'specialty' => 'Computer Specialist'],
],
];
foreach ($mission as $key => $value) {
echo "Mission: $key\n";
foreach ($value as $i => list('firstName' => $first, 'lastName' => $last)) {
echo $first . ' ' . $last . "\n";
}
}
foreach ($mission as $key => $value) {
echo "Mission: $key\n";
foreach ($value as $i => $entry) {
extract($entry);
echo $firstName . ' ' . $lastName . "\n";
}
}
$mission = [
'STS395' => [
['Fred', 'Flintstone', 'Caveman'],
['Barney', 'Rubble', 'Caveman Assistant'],
],
'STS396' => [
['Mark', 'Watney', 'Botanist'],
['Melissa', 'Lewis', 'Commander'],
['Beth', 'Johanssen', 'Computer Specialist'],
],
];
// unpack a numeric array in the foreach() directly
foreach ($mission as $key => $value) {
echo "Mission: $key\n";
foreach ($value as $i => list($first, $last, $specialty)) {
echo "$first $last is a $specialty\n";
}
}
// unpack a numeric array inside the foreach() loop
foreach ($mission as $key => $value) {
echo "Mission: $key\n";
foreach ($value as $i => $entry) {
[$first, $last, $specialty] = $entry;
echo "$first $last is a $specialty\n";
}
}
Once the objective has been achieved: exit the loop. In this example, once an 'ERROR' has been found, we're done!
<?php
$messages = [
'Operation succeeded',
'ERROR 402',
'Parse ERROR',
'Everything OK',
];
$found = 0;
$search = 'ERROR';
foreach ($messages as $item) {
// "str_contains()" is only available in PHP 8!
if (str_contains($item, $search)) {
$found++;
break;
}
}
echo ($found)
? 'ERROR found'
: 'All OK';
echo "\n";
You should provide a data type hint for functions with components that are sensitive to the wrong data type
- Protects the function from abuse
- Makes the real source of the error quite clear
function searchForError(array $messages) : int
{
$found = 0;
$search = 'ERROR';
foreach ($messages as $item) {
if (str_contains($item, $search)) {
$found++;
break;
}
}
return $found;
}
$messages = [
'Operation succeeded',
'ERROR 402',
'Parse ERROR',
'Everything OK',
];
echo (searchForError('WHATEVER'))
? 'ERROR found'
: 'All OK';
Use declare(strict_types=1)
to enforce all type hints for that file
<?php
// if the following line is omitted, the type-hint acts like a filter (type-cast)
declare(strict_types=1);
// Example of function using "type hinting"
function add(int $a, int $b) : int
{
return $a + $b;
}
echo "The sum of 2 and 2 is " . add(2, 2) . "\n";
echo "The sum of 33.33 and 22.22 is " . add(33.33, 22.22) . "\n";
Nullable type: ?string
=== string|null
<?php
// union types were introduced in PHP 8
function get_full_name(string $first, string $last, string|null $middle = NULL)
{
return ($middle) ? "$first $middle $last\n" : "$first $last\n";
}
echo get_full_name('Fred', 'Flintstone', 'John');
echo get_full_name('Barney', 'Rubble');
// prior to PHP 8, a hybrid type:
// ?string === string|null
function get_full_name2(string $first, string $last, ?string $middle = NULL)
{
return ($middle) ? "$first $middle $last\n" : "$first $last\n";
}
echo get_full_name2('Fred', 'Flintstone', 'John');
echo get_full_name2('Barney', 'Rubble');
Union types can go overboard:
<?php
// a bit ridiculous:
function dump(int|float|string|bool|array|object $whatever)
{
var_dump($whatever);
}
dump(new ArrayObject());
dump([1,2,3,4,5]);
// this makes more sense:
function dump2(mixed $whatever)
{
var_dump($whatever);
}
dump(new ArrayObject());
// another example of ridiculous:
// dump(true|false|bool $yesNo) {}
Array navigation functions example with while()
loop
<?php
$invoiceItems = [
['invoiceNumber' => 123, 'invoiceAmount' => 100],
['invoiceNumber' => 124, 'invoiceAmount' => 50],
['invoiceNumber' => 125, 'invoiceAmount' => 150],
['invoiceNumber' => 126, 'invoiceAmount' => 55],
];
$tax = 0.10;
while ($items = current($invoiceItems)) {
$amountWithTax = $items['invoiceAmount'] + ($items['invoiceAmount'] * $tax);
echo 'invoice #' . $items['invoiceNumber'] . ' with invoice amount ' . $items['invoiceAmount'] . ' has the final amount of ' . $amountWithTax . ' after adding the tax';
echo "\n";
next($invoiceItems);
}
You can also assign a reference to a single array element
<?php
$mission = [
'STS395' => [
['firstName' => 'Fred', 'lastName' => 'Flintstone', 'specialty' => 'Caveman'],
['firstName' => 'Barney', 'lastName' => 'Rubble', 'specialty' => 'Caveman Assistant'],
],
'STS396' => [
['firstName' => 'Mark', 'lastName' => 'Watney', 'specialty' => 'Botanist'],
['firstName' => 'Melissa', 'lastName' => 'Lewis', 'specialty' => 'Commander'],
['firstName' => 'Beth', 'lastName' => 'Johanssen', 'specialty' => 'Computer Specialist'],
],
];
$name = &$mission['STS395'][1]['firstName'];
$name = 'Betty';
var_dump($mission);
Example using pass-by-reference for validation
<?php
function validate(array $data, string &$err_msg) : bool
{
$error = 0;
// checks for only alpha characters
if (!ctype_alpha($data['name'])) {
$err_msg .= "Only letters are allowed in the name\n";
$error++;
}
if (!filter_var($data['email'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
$err_msg .= "Invalid email address\n";
$error++;
}
return ($error === 0);
}
$data = [
'name' => 12345,
'email' => 'bad.email.address'
];
$message = '';
if (validate($data, $message)) {
echo "All OK\n";
} else {
echo $message;
}
Calling program for the Forms demo in VM:
<?php
// place this calling program into:
// /home/vagrant/Zend/workspaces/DefaultWorkspace/sandbox/public/form.php
// call from a browser: http://sandbox/form.php
$config = include __DIR__ . '/../../orderapp/config/config.php';
include __DIR__ . '/../../orderapp/src/Forms.php';
echo getForm($config, 'new_order', NULL);
Example of vprintf
+ printf()
<?php
$a = 5398;
printf('%016b', $a);
echo "\n";
$data = [
['Fred', 999.99, 'Caveman'],
['Wilma', 888.88, 'Cavewoman'],
];
foreach ($data as $row)
vprintf('Name: %12s : Amount %8.2f : Title: %12s' . "\n", $row);
Example of using substr()
to extract a filename extension
<?php
$fn = 'whatever.php';
$allowed = ['jpg', 'png', 'gif'];
$ext = substr(trim($fn), -3);
echo (in_array($ext, $allowed)) ? 'Allowed' : 'Denied';
echo "\n";
// comes back as "Denied" because the extension is not on the allowed list
Sanitizing a filename
<?php
$alpha = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ';
echo $alpha[0] . $alpha[2] . $alpha[4];
$path = '/home/vagrant//Zend/workspaces/DefaultWorkspace/sandbox/public';
$fn = 'test.php';
// alternative syntax:
// if ($path[-1] === '/') {
if ($path[strlen($path) - 1] === '/') {
$final = $path . $fn;
} else {
$final = $path . '/' . $fn;
}
echo str_replace('//', '/', $final) . "\n";
Example of a callback tree that produces output in different formats
- Uses anonymous functions
<?php
$arr = ['A' => 111,'B' => 222,'C' => 333];
$callbacks = [
// arrow function works well here
'json' => fn(array $data) => json_encode($data, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT),
// needs multiple lines of code, so we use an anonymous function
'html' => function (array $data) {
$out = '<table>';
foreach ($data as $key => $value)
$out .= '<tr><th>' . $key . '</th><td>' . $value . '</td></tr>';
$out .= '</table>';
return $out; }
];
echo $callbacks['json']($arr);
echo "\n";
echo $callbacks['html']($arr);
echo "\n";
Example using fopen()
and fgetcsv()
to read a data file
<?php
// data source: https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/countryInfo.txt
$fn = '/home/vagrant/Downloads/countryInfo.txt';
$fh = fopen($fn, 'r');
$data = [];
while (!feof($fh)) {
$temp = fgetcsv($fh, separator:"\t");
if (empty($temp) || $temp[0][0] === '#') continue;
$data[] = $temp;
}
var_dump($data);
Example accessing a remote website
<?php
$contents = file_get_contents('https://google.com');
$contents = str_ireplace('Google', 'Boogle', $contents);
echo $contents;
Example using file_get_contents()
to post form data
<?php
$target = 'http://' . $host . '/ch12/php8_chat_ajax.php';
$response = 'Default';
if ($_POST) {
$user = $_POST['from'] ?? '';
$_SESSION['user'] = $user;
$headers = [
'Accept: text/html',
'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
];
$opts = [
'http' => [
'method' => 'POST',
'header' => implode("\r\n", $headers),
'content' => http_build_query($_POST)
]
];
$context = stream_context_create($opts);
$response = file_get_contents($target, FALSE, $context);
$data = json_decode($response, TRUE);
}
Example from labs
<?php
$name = 'data.txt';
$textArray = ['Some ', 'text', 'abc', 'jiofsjij'];
$file = fopen($name, 'w+');
foreach($textArray as $text) {
fwrite($file, $text . "\n");
}
rewind($file);
// another approach
echo substr(fread($file, 4096), 2, 2);
fclose($file);
$contents = file($name);
var_dump($contents);
Getting a list of files in a directory
<?php
// single directory
$path = __DIR__;
$list = glob($path . '/*');
foreach ($list as $fn) echo $fn . "\n";
// or grab an entire directory tree
// see: https://php.net/SPL
$iter = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($path);
$all = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($iter);
// $obj === SplFileInfo instance
foreach ($all as $fn => $obj) echo $fn . "\n";
PHP Packages
- Composer:
- Package Websites:
- Use
parse_url()
to breakdown a URL into its parts
<?php
$url = 'https://mars-express.com/path/to/whatever?id=124&mission=STS395';
$parsed = parse_url($url);
var_dump($parsed);
// output
/*
* array(4) {
["scheme"]=>
string(5) "https"
["host"]=>
string(16) "mars-express.com"
["path"]=>
string(17) "/path/to/whatever"
["query"]=>
string(21) "id=124&mission=STS395"
}
*/
- Also use
urlencode()
for any data added to the base URL
<?php
$url = 'https://mars-express.com/path/to/whatever?';
echo $url . urlencode('status=Is this going to work?');
To see what's coming into your PHP program from HTTP:
<?php
phpinfo(INFO_VARIABLES);
Various form styles
- Mainly HTML with PHP mixed in
- Includes example of validating the
name
field
<?php
$days = ['Mon','Tue','Wed','Thu','Fri','Sat','Sun'];
$allowed = ['Mon','Tue','Wed','Thu','Fri'];
$error = 0;
$name = '';
$email = '';
$message = '';
$daySelect = '';
$dayCheck = [];
if (!empty($_POST)) {
// validate name
$name = $_POST['name'] ?? '';
if ($name) {
if (strlen($name) > 16) {
$message .= "Name must be 16 chars or less\n";
$error++;
}
if (!ctype_alpha($name)) {
$message .= "Name must have only letters\n";
$error++;
}
// example of filtering
$name = strip_tags($name);
}
// validate day_select
$daySelect = $_POST['day_select'] ?? '';
if (!in_array($daySelect, $allowed)) {
$message .= "Day was not included in the set of allowed days\n";
$error++;
}
}
$message .= ($error === 0) ? "Form data is valid\n" : "Form data has errors\n";
?>
<form method="post">
Name: <input type="text" name="name" value="<?= htmlspecialchars($name) ?>" />
<br />Email: <input type="email" name="email" />
<br />Date: <input type="date" name="date" />
<br /><select name="day_select">
<?php foreach ($days as $day) echo '<option>' . $day . '</option>'; ?>
</select>
<br />
<?php
foreach ($days as $day) {
echo '<input type="checkbox" name="day_check[]" value="' . $day . '" />' . $day . ' ';
}
?>
</select>
<br /><input type="submit" />
</form>
<?= nl2br($message); ?>
<?php phpinfo(INFO_VARIABLES); ?>
Example from file labs
<?php
// single directory
$path = __DIR__;
$list = glob($path . '/*');
echo '<table>';
echo '<tr><th>Name</th><th>Size in Bytes</th><th>Lines</th></tr>';
foreach ($list as $fn) {
echo '<tr>';
echo "<td>" . basename($fn) . "</td>";
echo '<td>' . filesize($fn) . '</td>';
$lines = count(file($fn)) - 1;
echo "<td>$lines</td>";
echo '</tr>';
}
echo "</table>\n";
Example of cookie usage:
- https://github.com/dbierer/classic_php_examples/blob/master/web/cookie_counter.php Example of session usage:
- https://github.com/dbierer/classic_php_examples/blob/master/web/session_counter.php
Basic query example
<?php
$conn = mysqli_connect('localhost', 'vagrant', 'vagrant', 'phpcourse');
$result = mysqli_query($conn, 'SELECT * FROM customers');
$num_rows = mysqli_row_count($result); // especially useful for INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE
// gives results 1 row at a time
// use this if you anticipate a large result set
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result, MYSQLI_ASSOC)) {
var_dump($row);
}
// gives you all rows at once
// use this is expected return is no more than 1000 to 2000 rows
// $data = mysqli_fetch_all($result, MYSQLI_ASSOC);
Highly recommended JavaScript library