There are two string operators for joining character strings in PHP; the concatenating assignment operator and the concatenation operator.

One of the most frequently used code in PHP or any programming language is the code that will increment or decrement the value of a variable. This code or expression is used in programs as simple as a page counter or as complicated as credit card processing.

There are basically two types of PHP functions. The first type is the built-in function. The second type of function is the user defined function. These are the functions that you write yourself. Then, you can call it into your program any time by coding a function call.

The for statement is used to control a loop within your PHP program. It works like the while and do..while statements that we discussed in previous tutorials. The for statement tests an expression. If that expression is true the program will execute the task within the loop. Here is the basic code.

An associative array uses index keys but these keys are not numeric as in the regular array. The keys in an associative array are usually character strings.

A PHP array is a special type of variable that stores and organizes data. What makes an array variable special is that it can store more than one value; in fact, you can store as many values in one array as you need. It is very easy to create a new array using the PHP array function.

The PHP break statement is placed within the code of a loop statement to cause your program to break out of the loop statement. Below is an example of a break statement that has been added to a loop statement.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use a default value for an argument variable in a PHP function. This default value is used by the function only if there is no value for the argument variable passed to the function in the function call.

The PHP constant is very similar to a PHP variable in that it is used to store a value but, unlike a variable, the value cannot be changed. This can be very important when coding PHP programs.

The magic of the PHP static statement is that it allows a function to remember the value of a local variable for the next time the function is called. In this tutorial you will learn how to use the PHP static statement to give a PHP function some memory.