In this article, we will discuss the differences between ‘==’ and ‘===’ operators in PHP. Both are comparison operators used to compare two or more values.
== Operator: This operator is used to check the given values are equal or not. If yes, it returns true, otherwise it returns false.
Syntax:
operand1 == operand2
=== Operator: This operator is used to check the given values and its data type are equal or not. If yes, then it returns true, otherwise it returns false.
Syntax:
operand1 === operand2
Note: === operator will return false when data types of operand are different.
Example 1: The following code demonstrates == operator with same and different data type operands.
<?php $a = 34;
$b = 34;
// Show message if two operands are // equal with same data type operands if ( $a == $b ) {
echo "Equal" ;
} else {
echo "Not Equal" ;
} echo "\n" ;
// Show a message if two operands are equal // with different data type operands // First is of string type and the second // is of integer type if ( '34' == 34){
echo "Equal" ;
} else {
echo "Not Equal" ;
} ?> |
Output:
Equal Equal
Example 2: The following code demonstrates the === operator.
<?php $a = 34;
$b = 34;
// Return a message if two operands are // equal with same data type operands if ( $a === $b ){
echo "Equal" ;
} else {
echo "not Equal" ;
} echo "\n" ;
// Return a message if two operands are equal // with different data type operands // First is of string type and the second // is if integer type if ( '34' === 34){
echo "Equal" ;
} else {
echo "not Equal" ;
} ?> |
Output:
Equal not Equal
Difference between == and === operators:
== | === |
It is equal to operator. | It is an identical operator. |
It is used to check the equality of two operands. | It is used to check the equality of both operands and their data type. |