Variable Declarations in PHP

Variables are used for storing the data like strings, numbers , arrays etc in programs.

In PHP a variable starts with a $ sign. Forgetting to add $ sign is a very common mistake for the beginners.

Example for a PHP variable : $variable

And the declaration will look like  $variable = VALUE ;

A PHP variable name can start with a letter or underscore ( _ ) symbol and it shouldn’t contain any space or other special characters like *, % , # etc.

See the valid and invalid variable names

• $employee name   ( Invalid variable )
• $employee_name ( Valid variable )

There is no type declaration is needed in PHP variable declaration.variable will automatically converted to the type of assigned value to the variable.

For example :

• $variable = 10 ; ( Here $variable will treat as integer automatically, we dont need to specify type as Integer at the declaration command )
• $variable = “I love you”; ( Here $variable will treat as a string automatically, we dont need to specify type as string at the declaration command )

PHP Sample program with variable declaration

<?php
$variable_age = 30;
$variable_name= "Syam";
$variable_desp="has aged";
echo $variable_name."  ". $variable_desp."  ".$variable_age;
?>

The result will be look ke

Syam has aged 30