CODEWITHSUNDEEP
php
GusDeCooL
GusDeCooL

Reputation: 5758

Why does print return (int) 1?

I know echo() and print() do the same thing. but print has a return value of (int) 1.

The question is:

  1. Why it always returning (int) 1 ?
  2. What we can do with returning (int) 1 ?

Upvotes: 14

Views: 7210

Answers (6)

Ahmad Elham Rashed
Ahmad Elham Rashed

Reputation: 1

print always return 1 if the print work successfully. else it will return 0. and in echo we can show the successful or unsuccessful of print function.

echo print(1);// 11

if we write print(1) alone it will print to us 1 .

print(1);// 1

one example for better knowing.

function sum($a,$b)
                    {
        echo $a+$b;
        if($a+$b == true)
                         {
            return 1;

                         }
        else{ return 0;}
                      }

// now we call the function

sum(3,1);//4
echo "<br>";
echo sum(3,1);// 41
echo "<br>";
sum('abc','xyz');// 0
echo "<br>";
echo sum('abc','xyz');//00

this code work like print function

Upvotes: -1

fuxia
fuxia

Reputation: 63576

You can the return value in cases where you actually have to count.

Example:

for ( $i = 0; $i < 10; $i += print "$i<br>" );

You can combine printing and counting here.

Upvotes: 0

Tahir Akhtar
Tahir Akhtar

Reputation: 11635

As others already mentioned, print is pseudo-function (returns a value but not a real function), which makes its use valid in expressions. So you can write quirky code like this to confuse the maintainers :)

$success = doSomethingThatCanPossiblyFail();
if ($success || !(print "Failed to do that! Not going to do the follow up")){ 
  //success
  nowDoTheFollowupThing();
}

Just make sure the maintainers don't know where you live

Upvotes: 3

user703016
user703016

Reputation: 37975

It's just a little feature that allows you to use print in conditions, like :

if ((print "angry") && (print "mammoth") || (print "will stomp you"))
{
   // always executed
}

Now what's the use of this ? No idea.

Upvotes: 2

Sebastian Paaske T&#248;rholm
Sebastian Paaske T&#248;rholm

Reputation: 50928

Why it always returning (int) 1 ?

Most likely to signify success, so you could interpret it as the value TRUE.

What we can do with returning (int) 1 ?

In future code, instead of doing

$i++;

you can do

$i = $i + print("Hello World!\n");

(Minor side-effects may apply.)

Upvotes: 6

mario
mario

Reputation: 145502

print is a function and can be used in expressions, while echo is a language construct that can only be used at the start of the line.

 echo print(print(print(print(123)))), print(4);

The real use case for having print available as a function is to allow it to be used in expressions. For example as debug feature:

 if (($a == $b) and print("It's true") and $c) {

Or even

 return TRUE and print("right");

Upvotes: 11

Related Questions