👋 Hey there, PHP developer! Whether you’re just starting out with PHP or brushing up your skills, operators in PHP are something you can’t avoid — and honestly, you shouldn’t! Think of them as the tools that let you do things with your data — add, compare, assign, and so much more. 🧰

In this post, we’ll break down PHP operators into bite-sized pieces with real examples, so you can master them quickly and confidently.

🔍 What Are Operators in PHP?

Operators in PHP are symbols that perform operations on variables and values. They’re used to:

• Do math
• Compare values
• Assign values
• Combine conditions
• Work with bits (for the techy crowd)

➕ 1. Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators in PHP are used to perform basic mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and more.

💡 Example:

<?php
$a = 10;
$b = 3;

echo $a + $b;   // 13
echo $a - $b;   // 7
echo $a * $b;   // 30
echo $a / $b;   // 3.333...
echo $a % $b;   // 1
?>

🔁 2. Assignment Operators

Assignment operators in PHP are used to assign values to variables. The most basic is the = operator, but there are many shorthand operators that combine assignment with arithmetic operations.

💡 Example:

<?php
$a = 5;
$a += 3; // $a is now 8
$a -= 1; // $a is now 7
$a *= 2; // $a is now 14
$a /= 7; // $a is now 2
echo $a;
?>

🔍 3. Comparison Operators

Comparison operators in PHP are used to compare two values. They return a Boolean result: true or false. These operators are commonly used in conditional statements like if, while, and loops.

💡 Example:

$a = 5;
$b = "5";

var_dump($a == $b);   // true  (values are equal, type ignored)
var_dump($a === $b);  // false (different types: int vs string)

var_dump($a != $b);   // false
var_dump($a !== $b);  // true

var_dump($a < 10);    // true
var_dump($a >= 5);    // true

⚙️ 4. Logical Operators

Logical operators in PHP are used to combine multiple conditions or perform logical operations. They return true or false based on the truth values of the expressions.

⚠️ and vs && (and or vs ||)

• && and || have higher precedence than and and or.
• This affects how expressions are evaluated when combined with = and other operators.

💡 Example:

$a = false;
$b = true;

var_dump($a && $b);   // false
var_dump($a || $b);   // true
var_dump(!$a);        // false
var_dump($a xor $b);  // true (only one is true)

$result1 = $a && $b; // evaluates as expected: false
$result2 = $a and $b; // assigns $a first, then evaluates: ($result2 = $a), then `and $b`

// Better practice:
$age = 25;
$hasID = true;

if ($age >= 18 && $hasID) {
    echo "Access granted.";
} else {
    echo "Access denied.";
}

🧮 5. Increment/Decrement Operators

Increment and decrement operators in PHP are used to increase or decrease a variable’s value by 1. These are commonly used in loops and counters.

💡 Example:

$a = 5;

// Pre-increment
echo ++$a;  // Outputs 6 (increments, then returns)
echo $a;    // Still 6

// Post-increment
$a = 5;
echo $a++;  // Outputs 5 (returns, then increments)
echo $a;    // Now 6

// Pre-decrement
$b = 5;
echo --$b;  // Outputs 4

// Post-decrement
$b = 5;
echo $b--;  // Outputs 5
echo $b;    // Now 4

⚠️ Note:

• Use pre-increment (++$a) when you want to increment before the value is used.
• Use post-increment ($a++) when you want to use the value first, then increment.

🧩 6. String Operators

String operators in PHP are used to manipulate and combine strings. PHP provides a small but powerful set of string operators.

💡 Example:

// Concatenation
$firstName = "John";
$lastName = "Doe";

$fullName = $firstName . " " . $lastName;
echo $fullName; // Output: John Doe

// Concatenation Assignment
$greeting = "Hello";
$greeting .= " World!";
echo $greeting; // Output: Hello World!

⚡ 7. Bitwise Operators

Here’s a complete explanation of the Bitwise, Array, Null Coalescing, and Ternary operators in PHP, with examples:

💡 Example:

$a = 5;    // 0101 in binary
$b = 3;    // 0011 in binary

echo $a & $b; // 1 (0001)
echo $a | $b; // 7 (0111)
echo $a ^ $b; // 6 (0110)
echo ~$a;     // -6 (inverts bits of 5)
echo $a << 1; // 10 (shift left: 1010)
echo $a >> 1; // 2 (shift right: 0010)

📚 7. Array Operators

Used to compare or combine arrays.

💡 Example:

$a = ["a" => 1, "b" => 2];
$b = ["b" => 2, "a" => 1];

var_dump($a == $b);   // true
var_dump($a === $b);  // false (order different)
var_dump($a + $b);    // ['a' => 1, 'b' => 2]

❔ 8. Null Coalescing Operator (??)

Returns the first operand if it’s set and not null, otherwise the second.

💡 Example:

$username = $_POST['username'] ?? 'Guest';
echo $username;

This avoids warnings like undefined index and provides a default.

❓ 9. Ternary Operator (?:)

A short form of if...else. Often used to assign values based on a condition.

💡 Example:

$age = 20;
$status = ($age >= 18) ? "Adult" : "Minor";
echo $status;  // Output: Adult

## Shorthand version (PHP 5.3+):
$user = $_GET['user'] ?: 'Guest';  // If `$_GET['user']` is falsy, use 'Guest'

Final Thoughts

Operators are the muscles of PHP — they do the heavy lifting when it comes to logic, math, decisions, and data manipulation. Whether you’re calculating prices, checking login details, or building dynamic content, you’ll be using operators a lot.

So keep this guide handy and practice each one! 💪

Got a favorite or tricky operator that always confuses you? Drop it in the comments and let’s untangle it together! 👇