I know echo() and print() do the same thing. but print has a return value of (int) 1.
The question is:
- Why it always returning (int) 1 ?
- What we can do with returning (int) 1 ?
- 1that's why echo() better than print()Yuda Prawira– Yuda Prawira2011-05-18 07:49:27 +00:00Commented May 18, 2011 at 7:49
- 1From the related links: How are echo and print different in PHP?mario– mario2011-05-18 08:12:41 +00:00Commented May 18, 2011 at 8:12
- Does this answer your question? How are echo and print different in PHP?tripleee– tripleee2022-03-19 15:14:45 +00:00Commented Mar 19, 2022 at 15:14
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6 Answers
print is a function and can be used in expressions, while echo is a language construct that can only be used at the start of the line.
echo print(print(print(print(123)))), print(4); The real use case for having print available as a function is to allow it to be used in expressions. For example as debug feature:
if (($a == $b) and print("It's true") and $c) { Or even
return TRUE and print("right"); 
3 Comments
Tahir Akhtar
"print() is not actually a real function (it is a language construct)" -- PHP Manual
mario
True. It only imitates the behaviour of a function (not e.g. usable as callback). And it's parsed even without parenthesis around the argument.
GusDeCooL
hmmm seem like this is the logical reason for (int) 1, thank you very much to give real use case example :)
Why it always returning (int) 1 ?
Most likely to signify success, so you could interpret it as the value TRUE.
What we can do with returning (int) 1 ?
In future code, instead of doing
$i++; you can do
$i = $i + print("Hello World!\n"); (Minor side-effects may apply.)
answered May 18, 2011 at 7:50
Sebastian Paaske Tørholm
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2 Comments
Wesley van Opdorp
I'd go for $i += print('bohaaa!');
Matthieu Napoli
Why in the world would you want to increment a variable with the result of print ?
As others already mentioned, print is pseudo-function (returns a value but not a real function), which makes its use valid in expressions. So you can write quirky code like this to confuse the maintainers :)
$success = doSomethingThatCanPossiblyFail(); if ($success || !(print "Failed to do that! Not going to do the follow up")){ //success nowDoTheFollowupThing(); } 
Comments
It's just a little feature that allows you to use print in conditions, like :
if ((print "angry") && (print "mammoth") || (print "will stomp you")) { // always executed } Now what's the use of this ? No idea.
Comments
You can the return value in cases where you actually have to count.
Example:
for ( $i = 0; $i < 10; $i += print "$i<br>" ); You can combine printing and counting here.
Comments
print always return 1 if the print work successfully. else it will return 0. and in echo we can show the successful or unsuccessful of print function.
echo print(1);// 11
if we write print(1) alone it will print to us 1 .
print(1);// 1
one example for better knowing.
function sum($a,$b) { echo $a+$b; if($a+$b == true) { return 1; } else{ return 0;} } // now we call the function
sum(3,1);//4 echo "<br>"; echo sum(3,1);// 41 echo "<br>"; sum('abc','xyz');// 0 echo "<br>"; echo sum('abc','xyz');//00 this code work like print function