Practical PHP Coding Tips

Ali Osman

6 days ago

When developing in PHP, you can save time with some useful shortcuts and techniques.

Here are some practical PHP coding tips to streamline your workflow:

1. Use the Null Coalescing Operator (`??`) for Default Values

Instead of using ternary (?:) operators, PHP offers a cleaner approach with ??:

// Assigns a default value if the input is not set
$username = $_GET['username'] ?? 'Guest';
echo $username;

2. Short `if` Statements (Ternary Operator)

$user = isset($_SESSION['user']) ? $_SESSION['user'] : 'Guest';

Instead, use:

$user = $_SESSION['user'] ?? 'Guest';

3. Merging Arrays Easily

Instead of array_merge(), you can merge arrays using the + operator:

$a = ['name' => 'Ali'];
$b = ['age' => 25];
$c = $a + $b;
print_r($c);

4. Checking If an Array Key Exists

Instead of using array_key_exists(), you can use isset():

$data = ['name' => 'Ahmet'];

if (isset($data['name'])) {
    echo "Name: " . $data['name'];
}

5. Easily Handle JSON Data

Manipulate JSON data efficiently using json_encode() and json_decode():

$data = ['name' => 'Ali', 'age' => 45];
$json = json_encode($data);
echo $json; // {"name":"Ali","age":45}

$decode = json_decode($json, true);
print_r($decode); // Array ([name] => Ali, [age] => 45)

6. Useful `explode()` and `implode()` Usage

Convert strings into arrays and vice versa:

$words = "PHP,Python,JavaScript";
$array = explode(",", $words);
print_r($array);

$joined = implode(" - ", $array);
echo $joined;

7. Simple File Reading and Writing

// Read content from a file
$content = file_get_contents('file.txt');
echo $content;

// Write content to a file
file_put_contents('file.txt', "New data written");

8. Secure and Short MySQL Connection Using PDO

try {
    $db = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=database", "root", "");
    $db->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
    echo "Connection successful!";
} catch (PDOException $e) {
    echo "Connection error: " . $e->getMessage();
}

9. Generate a Random String in PHP

function randomCode($length = 8) {
    return substr(str_shuffle("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"), 0, $length);
}

echo randomCode(10);

10. Redirecting Users Automatically

header("Location: homepage.php");
exit;

1. Use the Null Coalescing Operator (??) for Default Values

2. Short if Statements (Ternary Operator)