Anatomy of a PHP script

The basic outline of a PHP script consists of:

<?php
     //The infamous "Hello, World!"
     echo("Hello, World! \n") ;
?>

<?php

//The infamous "Hello, World!"

echo("Hello, World! \n") ;

PHP tag, informs interpreter to execute PHP code

<?php ?>

Short codes <? ?> (without the php) can be used but are considered bad form

Comments

Use # or // for a single line
Use /* for

Multiple lines
*/

Statements

In this case the echo() function outputs a quoted string (as its argument) within its parentheses.

NOTE: Each statement must end with a semi-colon ;

Forgetting the semi-colon, is one of the most common problems!!

Whitespace, to make code more readable

PHP Essentials