PHP Operators - GeeksforGeeks

19 Dec, 2021
In this article, we will see how to use the operators in PHP, & various available operators along with understanding their implementation through the examples.
Operators are used to performing operations on some values. In other words, we can describe operators as something that takes some values, performs some operation on them, and gives a result. From example, “1 + 2 = 3” in this expression ‘+’ is an operator. It takes two values 1 and 2, performs an addition operation on them to give 3. 
Just like any other programming language, PHP also supports various types of operations like arithmetic operations(addition, subtraction, etc), logical operations(AND, OR etc), Increment/Decrement Operations, etc. Thus, PHP provides us with many operators to perform such operations on various operands or variables, or values. These operators are nothing but symbols needed to perform operations of various types. Given below are the various groups of operators:
Arithmetic Operators
Logical or Relational Operators
Comparison Operators
Conditional or Ternary Operators
Assignment Operators
Spaceship Operators (Introduced in PHP 7)
Array Operators
Increment/Decrement Operators
String Operators
Let us now learn about each of these operators in detail.
Arithmetic Operators: 
The arithmetic operators are used to perform simple mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc. Below is the list of arithmetic operators along with their syntax and operations in PHP.
+
Addition
$x + $y
Sum the operands
–
Subtraction
$x – $y
Differences the operands
*
Multiplication
$x * $y
Product of the operands
/
Division
$x / $y
The quotient of the operands
**
Exponentiation
$x ** $y
$x raised to the power $y
%
Modulus
$x % $y
The remainder of the operands
Note: The exponentiation has been introduced in PHP 5.6. 
Example: This example explains the arithmetic operator in PHP.
PHP
<?php  $x = 29; // Variable 1  $y = 4; // Variable 2   // Some arithmetic operations on  // these two variables  echo ($x + $y), "\n";  echo($x - $y), "\n";  echo($x * $y), "\n";  echo($x / $y), "\n";  echo($x % $y), "\n";?>
Output:
33
25
116
7.25
1
Logical or Relational Operators:
These are basically used to operate with conditional statements and expressions. Conditional statements are based on conditions. Also, a condition can either be met or cannot be met so the result of a conditional statement can either be true or false. Here are the logical operators along with their syntax and operations in PHP.
Example: This example describes the logical & relational operator in PHP.
PHP
<?php$x = 50;$y = 30;  if ($x == 50 and $y == 30)      echo "and Success \n";   if ($x == 50 or $y == 20)      echo "or Success \n";   if ($x == 50 xor $y == 20)      echo "xor Success \n";   if ($x == 50 && $y == 30)      echo "&& Success \n";   if ($x == 50 || $y == 20)      echo "|| Success \n";   if (!$z)      echo "! Success \n";?>
Output:
and Success 
or Success 
xor Success 
&& Success 
|| Success 
! Success 
Comparison Operators: These operators are used to compare two elements and outputs the result in boolean form. Here are the comparison operators along with their syntax and operations in PHP.
Example: This example describes the comparison operator in PHP.
PHP
<?php  $a = 80;  $b = 50;  $c = "80";   // Here var_dump function has been used to  // display structured information. We will learn  // about this function in complete details in further  // articles.  var_dump($a == $c) + "\n";  var_dump($a != $b) + "\n";  var_dump($a <> $b) + "\n";  var_dump($a === $c) + "\n";  var_dump($a !== $c) + "\n";  var_dump($a < $b) + "\n";  var_dump($a > $b) + "\n";  var_dump($a <= $b) + "\n";  var_dump($a >= $b);?>
Output:
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(false)
bool(true)
Conditional or Ternary Operators:
These operators are used to compare two values and take either of the results simultaneously, depending on whether the outcome is TRUE or FALSE. These are also used as a shorthand notation for if...else statement that we will read in the article on decision making. 
Syntax:
$var = (condition)? value1 : value2;
Here, the condition will either evaluate as true or false. If the condition evaluates to True, then value1 will be assigned to the variable $var otherwise value2 will be assigned to it.
?:
Ternary
If the condition is true? then $x : or else $y. This means that if the condition is true then the left result of the colon is accepted otherwise the result is on right.
Example: This example describes the Conditional or Ternary operators in PHP.
PHP
<?php  $x = -12;  echo ($x > 0) ? 'The number is positive' : 'The number is negative';?>
Output:
The number is negative
Assignment Operators: These operators are used to assign values to different variables, with or without mid-operations. Here are the assignment operators along with their syntax and operations, that PHP provides for the operations.
=
Assign
$x = $y
Operand on the left obtains the value of the operand on the right
+=
Add then Assign
$x += $y
Simple Addition same as $x = $x + $y
-=
Subtract then Assign
$x -= $y
Simple subtraction same as $x = $x – $y
*=
Multiply then Assign
$x *= $y
Simple product same as $x = $x * $y
/=
Divide then Assign (quotient)
$x /= $y
Simple division same as $x = $x / $y
%=
$x %= $y
Simple division same as $x = $x % $y
Example: This example describes the assignment operator in PHP.
PHP
<?php  // Simple assign operator  $y = 75;  echo $y, "\n";   // Add then assign operator  $y = 100;  $y += 200;  echo $y, "\n";   // Subtract then assign operator  $y = 70;  $y -= 10;  echo $y, "\n";   // Multiply then assign operator  $y = 30;  $y *= 20;  echo $y, "\n";   // Divide then assign(quotient) operator  $y = 100;  $y /= 5;  echo $y, "\n";   // Divide then assign(remainder) operator  $y = 50;  $y %= 5;  echo $y;?>
Output:
75
300
60
600
20
0
Array Operators: These operators are used in the case of arrays. Here are the array operators along with their syntax and operations, that PHP provides for the array operation.
+
Union
$x + $y
Union of both i.e., $x and $y
==
Equality
$x == $y
Returns true if both has same key-value pair
!=
Inequality
$x != $y
Returns True if both are unequal
===
Identity
$x === $y
Returns True if both have the same key-value pair in the same order and of the same type
!==
Non-Identity
$x !== $y
Returns True if both are not identical to each other
<>
Inequality
$x <> $y
Returns True if both are unequal
Example: This example describes the array operation in PHP.
PHP
<?php  $x = array("k" => "Car", "l" => "Bike");  $y = array("a" => "Train", "b" => "Plane");   var_dump($x + $y);  var_dump($x == $y) + "\n";  var_dump($x != $y) + "\n";  var_dump($x <> $y) + "\n";  var_dump($x === $y) + "\n";  var_dump($x !== $y) + "\n";?>
Output:
array(4) {
  ["k"]=>
  string(3) "Car"
  ["l"]=>
  string(4) "Bike"
  ["a"]=>
  string(5) "Train"
  ["b"]=>
  string(5) "Plane"
}
bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(false)
bool(true)
Increment/Decrement Operators: These are called the unary operators as they work on single operands. These are used to increment or decrement values.
Example: This example describes the Increment/Decrement operators in PHP. 
PHP
<?php  $x = 2;  echo ++$x, " First increments then prints \n";  echo $x, "\n";   $x = 2;  echo $x++, " First prints then increments \n";  echo $x, "\n";   $x = 2;  echo --$x, " First decrements then prints \n";  echo $x, "\n";   $x = 2;  echo $x--, " First prints then decrements \n";  echo $x;?>
Output:
3 First increments then prints 
3
2 First prints then increments 
3
1 First decrements then prints 
1
2 First prints then decrements 
1
String Operators: This operator is used for the concatenation of 2 or more strings using the concatenation operator (‘.’). We can also use the concatenating assignment operator (‘.=’) to append the argument on the right side to the argument on the left side.
Example: This example describes the string operator in PHP.
PHP
<?php  $x = "Geeks";  $y = "for";  $z = "Geeks!!!";  echo $x . $y . $z, "\n";  $x .= $y . $z;  echo $x;?>
Output:
GeeksforGeeks!!!
GeeksforGeeks!!!
Spaceship Operators:
PHP 7 has introduced a new kind of operator called spaceship operator. The spaceship operator or combined comparison operator is denoted by “<=>“. These operators are used to compare values but instead of returning the boolean results, it returns integer values. If both the operands are equal, it returns 0. If the right operand is greater, it returns -1. If the left operand is greater, it returns 1. The following table shows how it works in detail:
Example: This example illustrates the use of the spaceship operator in PHP.
PHP
<?php  $x = 50;  $y = 50;  $z = 25;   echo $x <=> $y;  echo "\n";   echo $x <=> $z;  echo "\n";   echo $z <=> $y;  echo "\n";   // We can do the same for Strings  $x = "Ram";  $y = "Krishna";   echo $x <=> $y;  echo "\n";   echo $x <=> $y;  echo "\n";   echo $y <=> $x;?>
Output:
0
1
-1
1
1
-1
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