What is the difference between echo and print in PHP?

MasterA Level 3

June 18, 2016, 10:03 am

Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ

What is the difference between echo and print in PHP?

I am learning PHP at the moment and I have a question about printing outputs using PHP. I know the both “echo” and “print” displays an output.
For example:

echo “Hello World”;

print “Hello World”;

gives the same output.

My question is what is the difference between the two? When do you use echo and print?

My other question is how do I add a space between different text outputs? For example, the above code when put next to each other outputs “Hello WorldHello World”. How can I add a space between World and Hello?

Thanks you very much!

MasterA

Comments

Please login or sign up to leave a comment

Join

robertman11

Not much, they are essentially the same thing. Here are the key (minor) differences:

Print returns a value. The return value is always "1". This means it can be used in expressions. Example:

$myReturn = print "hello";

$myReturn will equal 1.
Echo is faster. Not much, but it is since it doesn't return a value.
Echo can take more than one parameter.
Echo supports short syntax:

<?=$somevariable?>

10 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

itommy

According to me, it is the same but echo is more popular and almost of time I used this commend in PHP file. I think they are only having a different thing is echo has no return value while print has a return value of 1.

9 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

SEOClerks

What is the difference between echo and print in PHP?

What is the difference between echo and print in PHP?

Comments

Please login or sign up to leave a comment

robertman11

itommy

Invalid SQL

Expensive SQL

Suspicious SQL

Match	Count	SQL	Script
SELECT * FROM `questions` as q JOIN categories_faq as c ON q.catid=c.CATID WHERE (q.status=1 OR (q.status=2 AND userid='') ) AND q.quesid='10363'	1	SELECT q.*, c.seo as CatSEO, c.name as CatName, c.parentid FROM `questions` as q JOIN categories_faq as c ON q.catid=c.CATID WHERE (q.status=1 OR (q.status=2 AND userid='') ) AND q.quesid='10363'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/viewfaq.php 496 () ()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='311920'	1	SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='311920'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/includes/member.php 445 GetAllUserDetails() ()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID=311920	1	SELECT googleplus_profile FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID=311920	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 16914 GetGooglePlusProfileFromId() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faq as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=10363 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faq as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=10363 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM answers a, seoclerks.members b WHERE a.quesid='10363' AND a.userid=b.USERID and b.status='1' AND a.status=1 ORDER BY a.combined_votes DESC, a.date_answered asc	1	SELECT a.answer, a.USERID, a.upvotes, a.downvotes, a.ansid, a.parentid, a.combined_votes, a.date_answered, b.username, b.userlevel, b.profilepicture FROM answers a, seoclerks.members b WHERE a.quesid='10363' AND a.userid=b.USERID and b.status='1' AND a.status=1 ORDER BY a.combined_votes DESC, a.date_answered asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/viewfaq.php 1245 () ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=96008 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=96008 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=134191 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=134191 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
UPDATE questions SET total_views = total_views + 1 WHERE quesid='10363'	1	UPDATE questions SET total_views = total_views + 1 WHERE quesid='10363'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 1765 update_Faqviewcount() ()
SELECT * FROM questions WHERE quesid!='10363' AND status='1' AND (question like '% difference echo print PHP?%' OR question like '%difference%' OR question like '%echo%' OR question like '%print%' OR question like '%PHP?%') -- ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 15	1	SELECT quesid, question, seo, userid FROM questions WHERE quesid!='10363' AND status='1' AND (question like '% difference echo print PHP?%' OR question like '%difference%' OR question like '%echo%' OR question like '%print%' OR question like '%PHP?%') -- ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 15	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() ()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='19120' limit 1	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='19120' limit 1	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_member_profilepicture()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='43' limit 1	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='43' limit 1	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_member_profilepicture()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='9' limit 1	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='9' limit 1	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_member_profilepicture()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='17031' limit 1	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='17031' limit 1	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_member_profilepicture()
SELECT * FROM members_ledger WHERE script='/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/viewfaq.php' AND querystring LIKE '%id=10363%' AND added>=UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW())-1200 GROUP BY USERID	1	SELECT USERID, username FROM members_ledger WHERE script='/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/viewfaq.php' AND querystring LIKE '%id=10363%' AND added>=UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW())-1200 GROUP BY USERID	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() ()
SELECT * FROM categories	1	SELECT * FROM categories	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() parseRedundantQueriesCache()
select * from categories_software order by name asc	1	select * from categories_software order by name asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_GetSoftwareCategories()
select * from categories_wanttobuy order by name asc	1	select * from categories_wanttobuy order by name asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_wantcategories()
select * from categories_wanttotrade order by name asc	1	select * from categories_wanttotrade order by name asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_tradecategories()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='9.png'	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='9.png'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() getUserProfileImage()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='275652.png'	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='275652.png'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() getUserProfileImage()
select * from categories_faq order by name asc	1	select * from categories_faq order by name asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_GetFaqCategories()