PHP is a highly robust language- one that has attracted web developers from all across the world to take place in the web application craze that’s been raging. Getting the most out of the language means understanding it- and something most developers don’t know is simple things such as the difference between Echo and Print.
Two commands are used to output text to the screen: Print and Echo. But since both do the same thing, why would there be two different commands? The answer, interestingly enough, eludes even some PHP experts.
As it turns out, Echo is actually a language construct that doesn’t return a value, in which Print does. This simple fact means that Print can be used in some instances where Echo can’t, although developers will probably never run into such a situation. In fact, many PHP developers stick with Echo their entire career and will never see a problem.
There is the issue of speed that comes along with the fact that Print has to return a value. The extra load will indeed affect performance, but on such a small level that it isn’t even noticeable. It is recommended that PHP developers not take such a trivial amount of performance into mind, and instead pick the printing command that best suits them.
So far the industry standard has been to use Echo, but it should be stressed that either command may be used at will. Echo seems to be the favorite as it is easier to type, not to mention it’s a fun word to say! Those who favor the Print command are usually older programmers, who are accustomed to using the command Print from other programming languages that are now considered archaic.
As a last note of worthiness, it should be made clear that if speed is an issue, more emphasis should be put on how the two commands are used. Repeatedly using either command where a programmer could simply concatenate a string or value together will waste system performance- and on a much more noticeable scale that the difference between returning a value or not. Thus, this subject should be addressed if anything in regards to speed.
In Conclusion
Echo and Print will continue to confuse new developers that are learning PHP- this will never change. But as time wears on, it is more likely that the emphasis is going to be put on Echo. Already, there is a large emphasis place on using Echo simply because instructional resources do so. While Print may not be phased out, it will always be in the background for those who remember the “good old days” when the Print command was all a programmer had.
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