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
<?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
<?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. |
