PHP Operators

Operator

Name

Example

Result

+

Addition

$x + $y

Sum of $x and $y

–

Subtraction

$x – $y

Difference of $x and $y

*

Multiplication

$x * $y

Product of $x and $y

/

Division

$x / $y

Quotient of $x and $y

%

Modulus

$x % $y

Remainder of $x divided by $y

**

Exponentiation

$x ** $y

Result of raising $x to the $y’th power

Assignment

Same as…

Description

x = y

x = y

The left operand gets set to the value of the expression on the right

x += y

x = x + y

Addition

x -= y

x = x – y

Subtraction

x *= y

x = x * y

Multiplication

x /= y

x = x / y

Division

x %= y

x = x % y

Modulus

Operator

Name

Example

Result

==

Equal

$x == $y

Returns true if $x is equal to $y

===

Identical

$x === $y

Returns true if $x is equal to $y, and they are of the same type

!=

Not equal

$x != $y

Returns true if $x is not equal to $y

<> 

Not equal

$x <> $y

Returns true if $x is not equal to $y

!==

Not identical

$x !== $y

Returns true if $x is not equal to $y, or they are not of the same type

> 

Greater than

$x > $y

Returns true if $x is greater than $y

< 

Less than

$x < $y

Returns true if $x is less than $y

>=

Greater than or equal to

$x >= $y

Returns true if $x is greater than or equal to $y

<=

Less than or equal to

$x <= $y

Returns true if $x is less than or equal to $y

<=>

Spaceship

$x <=> $y

Returns an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero, depending on if $x is less than, equal to, or greater than $y. Introduced in PHP 7.

Operator

Same as…

Description

++$x

Pre-increment

Increases xxx by one and then returns xxx.

$x++

Post-increment

Returns xxx, then increases xxx by one.

–$x

Pre-decrement

Decreases xxx by one and then returns xxx.

$x–

Post-decrement

Returns xxx, then reduces xxx by one.

Operator

Name

Example

Result

and

And

$x and $y

True if both xxx and yyy are true.

or

Or

$x or $y

True if either xxx or yyy is true.

xor

Xor

$x xor $y

True if either xxx or yyy is true, but not both.

&&

And

$x && $y

True if both xxx and yyy are true.

||

Or

$x || $y

True if at least one of xxx or yyy is true.

!

Not

!$x

True if xxx is false.

Operator

Name

Example

Result

.

Concatenation

$txt1 . $txt2

The concatenation of txt1\text{txt1}txt1 and txt2\text{txt2}txt2.

.=

Concatenation assignment

$txt1 .= $txt2

Appends txt2\text{txt2}txt2 to txt1\text{txt1}txt1.

Operator

Name

Example

Result

+

Union

$x + $y

The union of xx and yy can be expressed as x∪ y.

==

Equality

$x == $y

Returns true if xxx and yyy contain identical key/value pairs.

===

Identity

$x === $y

Returns true if xxx and yyy have identical key/value pairs in the same order and of the same types.

!=

Inequality

$x != $y

Returns true if xxx is not equal to yyy.

<> 

Inequality

$x <> $y

Returns true if xxx is different from yyy.

!==

Non-identity

$x !== $y

Returns true if xxx is not identical to yyy.

Operator

Name

Example

Result

?:

Ternary

$x = expr1 ? expr2 : expr3

Returns the value of xxx.
The value of xxx is expr2\text{expr2}expr2 if expr1\text{expr1}expr1 is TRUE.
The value of xxx is expr3\text{expr3}expr3 if expr1\text{expr1}expr1 is FALSE.

??

Null coalescing

$x = expr1 ?? expr2

Returns the value of xxx.
The value of xxx is expr1\text{expr1}expr1 if expr1\text{expr1}expr1 exists and is not NULL.
If expr1\text{expr1}expr1 does not exist or is NULL, the value of xxx is expr2\text{expr2}expr2.
This feature was introduced in PHP 7.