php-vs-python

Exploring the differences between PHP and Python…

Same syntax

• Assignment operator $foo = 'bar'; vs foo = 'bar'
• Create an empty array $foo = []; vs empty list foo = []
• Create an array with values $foo = [1, 2, 'str']; vs list with values foo = [1, 2, 'str']
• Max value of array max($arr) vs max(arr)
• Min value of array min($arr) vs min(arr)
• Modulo $a % $b vs a % b
• Return statement return $result; vs return result

Different syntax

• Convert a string to an array.

  • Chunk size is 1. $chunks = str_split($str) vs chunks = list(str)
  • Chunk size is N. $chunks = str_split($str, $n) vs chunks = [str[i:i+n] for i in range(0, len(str), n)]

• Convert variable to int intval('5') vs int('5')

• Convert variable to string strval(5) vs str(5)

• Check if value exists in array in_array(2, [1, 2, 3]) vs 2 in [1, 2, 3]

• Check if the value and type of the operands is the same $a === $b vs a == b

• Filter array values by condition array_filter([1, 2, 'foo'], 'is_int'); vs [e for e in [1, 2, 'foo'] if isinstance(e, int)]

• Function declaration function foo(){ } vs def foo():

• Join array elements with a string implode(',', $arr) vs ','.join(arr)

• Map callback to the elements of the array array_map('intval', $arr) vs map(int, arr)

• Search element in array and get their index array_search(1, [1, 2, 3]) vs [1, 2, 3].index(2)

• Split a string by a string (return array): explode(',', $str) vs str.split(',')

• Split a string by a string with limit: explode(',', $str, 3) vs str.split(',', 3)

• Reverse a string $str = strrev($str) vs str = str[::-1]

• Round fractions up and down:

  • In PHP:

  ceil(1.5); // → 2
  floor(1.5); // → 1

  • In Python:

  import math
  
  math.ceil(1.5) # → 2
  math.floor(1.5) # → 1

• Ternary conditional operator $condition ? $a : $b vs a if condition else b

Loops

• Iterate over array foreach($arr as $value) vs for value in arr:

• Iterate over array with index foreach($arr as $index => $value) vs for index, x in enumerate(arr):

• Iterate over associative array with index:

  • In PHP:

  foreach($arr as $key => $value){
      echo $key . '->' . $value;
  }

  • In Python (dictionaries):

  for key in a_dict:
      print(key, '->', a_dict[key])

Python unique syntax

• pass - a placeholder for future code