Echo vs. Print: Which PHP Output Function Reigns Supreme?

Unveiling the Subtleties between PHP's echo and print Functions

PHP offers two versatile functions for displaying output: echo and print. While both serve the purpose of outputting data, they differ in certain aspects.

1. Speed: A Marginal Advantage for echo

Benchmarking tests reveal that echo holds a slight performance edge over print. This advantage stems from echo's absence of a return value, which reduces overhead.

2. Expression and Complex Usages

In contrast to echo, which operates solely as an output function, print behaves like a function that returns a value. This opens up the possibility of employing print within complex expressions, such as:

$ret = print "Hello World"; // $ret will be 1

3. Multiple Parameters and Concatenation

Echo has the ability to accept multiple parameters that are automatically concatenated into a single output. This functionality is unavailable in print:

echo "Hello", " ", "World!"; // Outputs "Hello World!"
print "Hello", " ", "World!"; // Invalid syntax

4. Parameter Count

Print accepts only a single parameter, while echo allows multiple parameters to be passed.

Conclusion

Despite these differences, both echo and print serve effectively for outputting data in PHP. Consider echo for its speed advantage in scenarios where speed matters. For cases involving complex expressions or multiple parameters, print offers greater flexibility.

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