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PHP has tons of built in functions to make your life as a PHP developer so much better, but first we need to know how to find them and how to read the docs. Let's jump in.
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[MUSIC]
0:00
PHP has tons of built in functions to make
your life as a PHP developer so
0:05
much better.
0:09
But first, we need to know how to find
them, and how to read the docs.
0:11
So let's jump in.
0:14
Okay, so, from Google search I'm just
gonna type in PHP built in.
0:16
Okay, built in functions, and
0:23
our first result should be PHP internal
built in functions manual.
0:26
So you'll see this is gonna take us to
php.net/manual/en for
0:30
English, and then functions internal PHP.
0:35
If you look at the second paragraph,
0:38
there's a section here that says, how to
read a functions definition.
0:39
So taking a look at this we understand our
data types.
0:44
We've gone over that in a previous lesson.
0:48
So what we're gonna look at is how it is
defined.
0:51
So for instance, we're looking at string
length as our first example.
0:54
So what you'll see, is that there is a
function name,
0:58
then it will show you when it's been
around, so it's been in PHP4 and PHP5.
1:02
It's going to return an integer value, so
you'll see here it says int strlen length,
1:07
and then inside of that, it'll show you
the argument you pass through.
1:13
It starts by showing you what kind of
argument it expects.
1:18
So it expects a string, and then you pass
through a variable, and
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in this case it just says, string.
1:24
So then, it tells you the result.
1:27
It'll say it will return the length of a
given string.
1:30
So that's a very, very simple way to look
at the docs.
1:34
Let's look at string length actually
defined.
1:37
There's actually a link right up here to
it.
1:40
And then we can see how the docs actually
look to us.
1:42
So you'll see here under strlen, we see
PHP 4, PHP 5,
1:46
and then a quick description which just
says, get string length.
1:51
Then, what it expects.
1:56
Int means it expects an integer, then you
have the keyword,
1:57
which is strlen, which is the actual
function.
2:01
Then the arguments that you pass through
have to be a string, and then you
2:04
just pass through a single argument that
is required, dollar sign, string.
2:07
It'll return to you, the length of the given
string as an integer.
2:11
So that's a very basic example of how to
read the documentation.
2:16
Now, we're gonna do some more, starting
with how to look at string functions.
2:21
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