Equal Operator ==
The comparison operator called Equal Operator is the double equal sign “==”. This operator accepts two inputs to compare and returns true value if both of the values are same (It compares only value of variable, not data types) and return a false value if both of the values are not same.
This should always be kept in mind that the present equality operator == is different from the assignment operator =. The assignment operator changes and assigns the variable on the left to have a new value as the variable on right, while the equal operator == tests for equality and returns true or false as per the comparison results.
Example:
php
<?php // Variable contains integer value $x = 999; // Variable contains string value $y = '999' ; // Compare $x and $y if ( $x == $y ) echo 'Same content' ; else echo 'Different content' ; ?> |
Same content
Identical Operator ===
The comparison operator called as the Identical operator is the triple equal sign “===”. This operator allows for a much stricter comparison between the given variables or values.
This operator returns true if both variable contains same information and same data types otherwise return false.
Example:
php
<?php // Variable contains integer value $x = 999; // Variable contains string value $y = '999' ; // Compare $x and $y if ( $x === $y ) echo 'Data type and value both are same' ; else echo 'Data type or value are different' ; ?> |
Data type or value are different
In the above example, value of $x and $y are equal but data types are different so else part will execute.