In this tutorial, you will learn how to perform certain activities on variables and values using operators in PHP.
PHP operators are symbols that perform certain operations on operands. For example, subtraction (-) symbol tells PHP to subtract two variables or values, while less than (<) symbol is an operator that tells PHP to compare two values.
Operators in PHP can be categorized as below.
PHP Arithmetic Operators
Arithmetic operators are used to perform different kinds of arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc. Below is the list of all arithmetic operators.
| Operator | Name | Example | Output |
| + | Addition | $a + $b | Sum of $a and $b |
| – | Subtraction | $a – $b | Difference of $a and $b |
| * | Multiplication | $a * $b | Product of $a and $b |
| / | Division | $a / $b | Quotient of $a and $b |
| % | Modulus | $a % $b | Remainder of $a divided by $b |
| ** | Exponentiation | $a ** $b | $a raised to the power $b |
PHP Assignment Operators
Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables in PHP. The basic assignment operator is '='.
| Operator | Name | Example | Explanation |
| = | Assign | $a = $b | The value of $b is assigned to $a. |
| += | Add then Assign | $a += $b | Addition same as $a = $a + $b |
| -= | Subtract then Assign | $a -= $b | Subtraction same as $a = $a – $b |
| *= | Multiply then Assign | $a *= $b | Multiplication same as $a = $a * $b |
| /= | Divide then Assign (quotient) | $a /= $b | Find quotient same as $a = $a / $b |
| %= | Divide then Assign (remainder) | $a %= $b | Find remainder same as $a = $a % $b |
PHP Comparison Operators
Comparison operator in PHP is used to compare two variables or values.
| Operator | Name | Example | Explanation |
| == | Equal | $x == $y | True if $x is equal to $y |
| === | Identical | $x === $y | True if $x is equal to $y, and they are of the same type |
| != | Not equal | $x != $y | True if $x is not equal to $y |
| <> | Not equal | $x <> $y | True if $x is not equal to $y |
| !== | Not identical | $x !== $y | True if $x is not equal to $y, or they are not of the same type |
| < | Less than | $x < $y | True if $x is less than $y |
| > | Greater than | $x > $y | True if $x is greater than $y |
| >= | Greater than or equal to | $x >= $y | True if $x is greater than or equal to $y |
| <= | Less than or equal to | $x <= $y | True if $x is less than or equal to $y |
PHP Incrementing and Decrementing Operators
This operators are used to increment and decrements variables value.
| Operator | Name | Explanation |
| ++$x | Pre-increment | Increments $x by one, then returns $x |
| $x++ | Post-increment | Returns $x, then increments $x by one |
| –$x | Pre-decrement | Decrements $x by one, then returns $x |
| $x– | Post-decrement | Returns $x, then decrements $x by one |
PHP Logical Operators
The logical operators are used to work in combination with conditional operators.
| Operator | Name | Example | Explanation |
| and | And | $x and $y | True if both $x and $y are true |
| or | Or | $x or $y | True if either $x or $y is true |
| xor | Xor | $x xor $y | True if either $x or $y is true, but not both |
| && | And | $x && $y | True if both $x and $y are true |
| || | Or | $x || $y | True if either $$x or $y is true |
| ! | Not | !$x | True if $x is not true |
PHP String Operators
There are two string operators available in PHP which works on the string value.
| Operator | Name | Example | Explanation |
| . | Concatenation | $x . $y | Concatenate both $x and $y |
| .= | Concatenation and Assignment | $x .= $y | First concatenate $x and $y, then assign the concatenated string to $x, e.g. $x = $x . $y |
PHP Array Operators
The array operators are used to compare the values of an array.
| Operator | Name | Example | Explanation |
| + | Union | $x + $y | Union of $x and $y |
| == | Equality | $x == $y | Return TRUE if $x and $y have the same key/value pair |
| != | Inequality | $x != $y | Return TRUE if $x is not equal to $y |
| === | Identity | $x === $y | Return TRUE if $x and $y have the same key/value pair of the same type in the same order |
| !== | Non-Identity | $x !== $y | Return TRUE if $x is not identical to $y |
| <> | Inequality | $x <> $y | Return TRUE if $x is not equal to $y |
PHP Operators Precedence
Below are the operators precedence in PHP along with associativity.
| Operators | Associativity | Additional Information |
| clone new | (n/a) | clone and new |
| ** | right | arithmetic |
| ++ — ~ (int) (float) (string) (array) (object) (bool) @ | (n/a) | types and increment/decrement |
| instanceof | left | types |
| ! | (n/a) | logical |
| * / % | left | arithmetic |
| + – . | left | arithmetic and string |
| << >> | left | bitwise |
| < <= > >= | non-associative | comparison |
| == != === !== <> <=> | non-associative | comparison |
| & | left | bitwise and references |
| ^ | left | bitwise |
| | | left | bitwise |
| && | left | logical |
| || | left | logical |
| ?? | right | null coalescing |
| ? : | left | ternary |
| = += -= *= **= /= .= %= &= |= ^= <<= >>= ??= | right | assignment |
| yield from | (n/a) | yield from |
| yield | (n/a) | yield |
| (n/a) | ||
| and | left | logical |
| xor | left | logical |
| or | left | logical |