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PHP PHP Arrays and Control Structures PHP Conditionals Compare

Thomas Minnefor
Thomas Minnefor
7,952 Points
Posted by Thomas Minnefor
Thomas Minnefor
7,952 Points

quiz question

Hi - if Alena is assigned to $a the conditional evaluates to false - no?

What will be displayed in a browser when the following PHP code is executed:

<?php $a = "Alena"; if ($a = "Treehouse") { echo "Hello Alena, "; } echo "Welcome to Treehouse!"; ?>

Thomas Minnefor
Thomas Minnefor
7,952 Points
Thomas Minnefor
Thomas Minnefor
7,952 Points

I think I see it now -

The single = is assignment. For the test to occur double == to check equality would be needed. So, it appears this is actually poor syntax - assignment wouldn't typically occur in a conditional test.

Thanks again. Stepping through each line helps.

Tracy,

Thanks. I'll need to go through PHP docs. Seems strange syntax that in the conditional Treehouse is being assigned to $a instead just a test of true/false. Seems I missed this distinction in the lesson video too. Will view it again.

Thanks for stepping through the code.

tracythelight
tracythelight
9,973 Points

I'm glad it makes sense. It was my first reply for help when I happened to be on the same course!

Sometimes, you can use it as a conditional when you want to know if something is set to that value., then one thing can happen. Kinda weird here though, but it just may be a common mistake when you really do intend to compare and get unexpected and crazy output. It seems that quiz questions/projects may be just prepping us for real world stuff. And my guess is that that kinda mistake happens a lot.

Now, neither of us will (probably) ever forget!

Good luck!

1 Answer

tracythelight
tracythelight
9,973 Points
tracythelight
tracythelight
9,973 Points

Hi Thomas, Check out the difference between: a comparison == vs. an assignment =

$a is actually getting reassigned to be "Treehouse" and "Hello Alena" gets printed now as you go through the code. And then you continue through and the "Welcome to Treehouse!" is the next step.

I though of it like this as I read through it:

  1. $a is Alena,
  2. if $a is Treehouse now (it is since it was just assigned to $a in that statement... the tricky part because it is not being compared it is being assigned. So it is True... proceed through curly braces)
  3. echo "Hello Alena"
  4. echo "Welcome to Treehouse"

hope it made sense.