PHP | $ vs $$ operator
Last Updated :
23 Jul, 2018
The $ operator in PHP is used to declare a variable. In PHP, a variable starts with the $ sign followed by the name of the variable. For example, below is a string variable:
$var_name = "Hello World!";
The $var_name is a normal variable used to store a value. It can store any value like integer, float, char, string etc. On the other hand, the $$var_name is known as reference variable where $var_name is a normal variable. The $$var_name used to refer to the variable with the name as value of the variable $var_name.
Examples:
Input : $Hello = "Geeks for Geeks"
$var = "Hello"
echo $var
echo $$var
Output : Hello
Geeks for Geeks
Input : $GFG = "Welcome to GeeksforGeeks"
$var = "GFG"
echo $var
echo $$var
Output : GFG
Welcome to GeeksforGeeks
Explanation: In the above example, $var stores the value “Hello”, so $$var will refer to the variable with name Hello i.e., $Hello.
Below program will illustrate the $ and $$ operator in PHP.
<?php
$var = "Hello" ;
$Hello = "GeeksforGeeks" ;
echo $var . "\n" ;
echo $ $var ;
echo "\n\n" ;
$var = "GFG" ;
$GFG = "Welcome to GeeksforGeeks" ;
echo $var . "\n" ;
echo $ $var ;
?>
|
Output:
Hello
GeeksforGeeks
GFG
Welcome to GeeksforGeeks
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