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PHP

Shoaib Khan
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Shoaib Khan
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 21,177 Points

Cannot get strings to match in if statement.

I am having a hard time getting my strings to match in my if statement. What am I missing?

<?php
$name = 'Alena';
$string_one = "Learning to display \"Hello $name!\" to the screen.\n";
$string_one = 'Learning to display ';
$string_one .= '"Hello ';
$string_one .= $name;
$string_one .= '!" to the screen.';
$string_one = $string_one . "\n";
//prepend to a string
$string_one = 'I am ' . $string_one;
echo $string_one;

$isReady = true;
var_dump($isReady);
$isReady = false;
var_dump($isReady);

var_dump(1 + "2");

$a = 10;
$b = "10";

//var_dump($a == $b);
//var_dump($a === $b);

var_dump($string_one);

//($string_one == 'Learning to display "Hello Alena!" to the screen.');
if ($string_one == 'I am Learning to display "Hello Alena!" to the screen.') {
  echo 'the values match';
  } elseif ($string_one == "") {
    echo '$string_one is empty';
} else {
  echo 'the values DO NOT match';
}

?>

Thanks,

Shoaib Kamal Khan

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points

On line 8, a newline character is added to $string_one. But the string it is being matched with on line 29 does not contain a newline character, so they truly do not match.

Either add a newline on line 29, or remove line 8, either will allow them to match.

Shoaib Khan
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Shoaib Khan
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 21,177 Points

Hi Steven,

I have added a new line on line 29, but I am having the same problem.

Here is the code that I have:

if ($string_one == 'I am Learning to display "Hello Alena!" to the screen.\n') {
  echo 'the values match';
  } elseif ($string_one == "") {
    echo '$string_one is empty';
} else {
  echo 'the values DO NOT match';
}

I have also tried concatenating the string with a new line and I still have the same problem.

if ($string_one == 'I am Learning to display "Hello Alena!" to the screen.' . '\n') {
  echo 'the values match';
  } elseif ($string_one == "") {
    echo '$string_one is empty';
} else {
  echo 'the values DO NOT match';
}

What am I missing?

Thanks,

Shoaib Kamal Khan

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points

When using single quotes, the escape sequence is not recognized. So '\n' actually contains two characters, a backslash and a normal letter "n".

If you use double quotes ("\n") as you did on line 8, you'll get a single newline character and a match.

Shoaib Khan
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Shoaib Khan
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 21,177 Points

Thanks a lot Steven!!! That worked perfectly!!! Here is the updated code:

<?php
$name = 'Alena';
$string_one = "Learning to display \"Hello $name!\" to the screen.\n";
$string_one = 'Learning to display ';
$string_one .= '"Hello ';
$string_one .= $name;
$string_one .= '!" to the screen.';
$string_one = $string_one . "\n";
//prepend to a string
$string_one = 'I am ' . $string_one;
echo $string_one;

$isReady = true;
var_dump($isReady);
$isReady = false;
var_dump($isReady);

var_dump(1 + "2");

$a = 10;
$b = "10";

//var_dump($a == $b);
//var_dump($a === $b);

var_dump($string_one);

//($string_one == 'Learning to display "Hello Alena!" to the screen.');
if ($string_one == 'I am Learning to display "Hello Alena!" to the screen.' . "\n") {
  echo 'the values match';
  } elseif ($string_one == "") {
    echo '$string_one is empty';
} else {
  echo 'the values DO NOT match';
}

?>

Thanks,

Shoaib Kamal Khan