Black's Corner

$var = "variable";

echo "I am a $var";

$arr = array("element1", "element2", "element3");
echo "the value at index 1 is: " . $arr[1];

echo "The value at index 1 is: $arr[1]";

$assoc = array("key1" => "value1", "key2" => "value2");
echo "The value of the array at the key 'key1' is: $assoc[key1]";

class foo {
public $var;
function __construct(){
$var = "World!";
     }
}
$foo = new foo();
//the following statements are equivalent
echo "Hello " . $foo->var;
echo "Hello $foo->var";

Here are some more examples for clarification (taken from the PHP manual)

<?php
$juices = array("apple", "orange", "koolaid1" => "purple");

echo "He drank some $juices[0] juice.".PHP_EOL;
echo "He drank some $juices[1] juice.".PHP_EOL;
echo "He drank some juice made of $juice[0]s.".PHP_EOL; // Won't work
echo "He drank some $juices[koolaid1] juice.".PHP_EOL;

class people {
public $john = "John Smith";
public $jane = "Jane Smith";
public $robert = "Robert Paulsen";

public $smith = "Smith";
}

$people = new people();

echo "$people->john drank some $juices[0] juice.".PHP_EOL;
echo "$people->john then said hello to $people->jane.".PHP_EOL;
echo "$people->john's wife greeted $people->robert.".PHP_EOL;
echo "$people->robert greeted the two $people->smiths."; // Won't work
?>

Awesome right! But thats not all! Not even close. PHP also has complex syntax (which I mentioned above). Despite what you may think, its not called complex syntax because it is in itself complex, but rather because it allows you to interpolate complex expressions. To use complex notation, you must use curly brackets ({ and }) to surround your expression you want interpolated. The PHP manual describes complex notations functionality as follows:

Lets look at an example shall we! This will show improper use of complex syntax, then 2 examples of correct use. I will use a simple variable here.

<?php
$great = 'fantastic';

// Won't work, outputs: This is { fantastic}
echo "This is { $great}";
// Works, outputs: This is fantastic
echo "This is {$great}";
echo "This is ${great}";
?>

Of course you can also use complex notation with object properties and array elements as I did above with simple syntax

<?php
echo "This square is {$square->width} centimeters broad.";
echo "This works: {$arr['key']}";</div>
?>

Notice that I used single quotes in the array element example. Complex syntax is the only place you can use single quoted array keys, as opposed to simple syntax which, as shown above, can’t have the single quotes (if you are curious why this is, leave a comment and ill try to get back to you).  Where complex syntax really shines though, is its ability to interpolate more complex expressions than simple object propertys or array elements. For example, say you are taking advantage of PHP’s variable variables (link will be below). Assume you have a function called getName() which returns the name of the variable you want to access. You can do

<?php
function getName(){ return 'var'; }
//note single quotes and thus lack of interpolation
$var = 'value of $var';

echo "This is the value of the var named by
the return value of getName(): {${getName()}}";
//output: This is the value of the var named by the return value of getName(): value of $var
//of course, if the function is a method of some class, you can also do this:
$object = new Some_Class_With_getName_Method();
echo "This is the value of the var named by the return value of \$object->getName(): {${$object->getName()}}";
?>

Unfortunately, you can’t interpolate just the return value from a function. So the following won’t work:

<?php
// Won't work, outputs: This is the return value of getName(): {getName()}
echo "This is the return value of getName(): {getName()}";
?>

Unfortunately, since PHP depends on the variable sigil ($) to proceed the opening curly bracket to use complex syntax, interpolating functions is impossible. But PHP’s ability to interpolate many things really makes it an amazing language. What is truly unfortunate is that many programmers are unaware of how far PHP’s capabilities go! Most know about simple syntax, but many are unaware of the power of complex syntax.

Here are a bunch more examples (from the PHP manual) of things that will and won’t work with complex syntax so you can get an idea of its use.

<?php
// Show all errors
error_reporting(E_ALL);

$great = 'fantastic';

// Won't work, outputs: This is { fantastic}
echo "This is { $great}";

// Works, outputs: This is fantastic
echo "This is {$great}";
echo "This is ${great}";

// Works
echo "This square is {$square->width}00 centimeters broad.";

// Works, quoted keys only work using the curly brace syntax
echo "This works: {$arr['key']}";

// Works
echo "This works: {$arr[4][3]}";

// This is wrong for the same reason as $foo[bar] is wrong  outside a string.
// In other words, it will still work, but only because PHP first looks for a
// constant named foo; an error of level E_NOTICE (undefined constant) will be
// thrown.
echo "This is wrong: {$arr[foo][3]}";

// Works. When using multi-dimensional arrays, always use braces around arrays
// when inside of strings
echo "This works: {$arr['foo'][3]}";

// Works.
echo "This works: " . $arr['foo'][3];

echo "This works too: {$obj->values[3]->name}";

echo "This is the value of the var named $name: {${$name}}";

echo "This is the value of the var named by the return value of getName(): {${getName()}}";

echo "This is the value of the var named by the return value of \$object->getName(): {${$object->getName()}}";

// Won't work, outputs: This is the return value of getName(): {getName()}
echo "This is the return value of getName(): {getName()}";
?>

<?php
class foo {
var $bar = 'I am bar.';
}

$foo = new foo();
$bar = 'bar';
$baz = array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'quux');
echo "{$foo->$bar}\n";
echo "{$foo->$baz[1]}\n";
?>

<?php
 class foo {
 var $bar = 'I am bar.';
 }$foo = new foo();
 $bar = 'bar';
 $baz = array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'quux');
 echo "{$foo->$bar}\n";
 echo "{$foo->$baz[1]}\n";
 ?>

<?php
// Show all errors.
error_reporting(E_ALL);

class beers {
const softdrink = 'rootbeer';
public static $ale = 'ipa';
}

$rootbeer = 'A & W';
$ipa = 'Alexander Keith\'s';

// This works; outputs: I'd like an A & W
echo "I'd like an {${beers::softdrink}}\n";

// This works too; outputs: I'd like an Alexander Keith's
echo "I'd like an {${beers::$ale}}\n";
?>

Well I hope you enjoyed reading about string interpolation as much as I enjoyed writing about it. PHP really is an amazing language, and touches like this are what really set it apart from other languages, and is what’s key to PHP’s wide success.

Links of Interest

Part 1:

String Parsing (Go here for a full explanation of the examples I posted, as well as comments and discussion about it):

Simple Syntax:

Complex Syntax:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php#language.types.string.parsing.complex

Variable Variables: