Differences In Two Common PHP Language Constructs

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.

Echo and Print are both commands used to display something to the browser. Both are used in similar structure, and both are identical in output. So what, then, is the use for having two commands that appear to do the exact same thing?

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.

When a PHP developer looks around at examples and scripts from others in the community, they will see that Echo is used much more often. This isn't because of speed, as previously discussed, but because many think it easier to type and the keyword command is more appealing in design. The success of Echo has been compounded after many publishers make books and online resources that sport the term.

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.

Final Thoughts

End the end, the battle between Echo and print is never ending. The trends do seem to show that Echo is much more popular, but with little reasons. The speed benefit is so small that it's negligible- especially among faster systems that technology has produced where such effects go unnoticed. And because many books and online publications stick true to the Echo command, it's likely we'll only be seeing more of it as time goes on, and less of the fabled Print command that older generations have favored.