Understanding the Difference between 'echo' and 'print' in PHP

The basic difference between 'echo' and 'print' in PHP lies in their speed of execution. In general, 'echo' is considered faster than 'print', which is the correct answer to the question. But before diving into why that is the case, let's take a look at the similarities and differences between 'echo' and 'print'.

Both 'echo' and 'print' are used to output results to the screen in PHP. However, 'echo' is a language construct and has a minor advantage over 'print' in terms of speed because it doesn't return any value, which makes it slightly faster.

Using 'echo' or 'print' for displaying data is mainly a matter of personal preference. They both work in a similar manner with minor differences.

Here's an example of how 'echo' and 'print' work.

Using echo:

<?php
echo "Hello, World!";
?>

Using print:

<?php
print "Hello, World!";
?>

In both cases, "Hello, World!" will be displayed on the screen. But as stated before, 'echo' is faster in terms of performance.

However, the difference is so minor that it's rarely considered when making the choice of which one to use. More important factors are code readability, consistency, and the nature of your specific project.

Now, it's also worth mentioning that while both 'echo' and 'print' can accept multiple parameters, 'print' being a function, accepts only a single argument. On the other hand, 'echo', being a language construct, is capable of outputting one or more strings.

Example:

<?php
echo "Hello", ", World!";
?>

This will output "Hello, World!" just like before.

In conclusion, while there is a difference between 'echo' and 'print' in PHP, both have their benefits and are suitable for different use cases. You should choose the one that you find more comfortable and suits your coding style the best.