PHP in 60 - Loops

PHP in 60, a 60 second lesson on a topic in PHP.

Check out the whole playlist here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDE47EBFCC40BDD82

In this lesson, we look at loops, and how they can make our life better.

Video script:

Loops help you use the same chunk of code multiple times. The three loops i'm going to discuss here are while loops, for loops, and foreach loops.

While loops simply run untill the given condition returns false. For instance, "add one to x untill it reaches 40" might look like this.

With for loops, you define three expressions, one to set the initial value of your counter variable, one to state the condition of which to run until false, and an expression to be executed. The first expression is usually just defining a variable as 1. The second is generally your variable less than or equal to the number of times you wish to run the code, and the third just adds one to the variable each time the loop is executed. The plus plus operator is just shorthand for doing that. Your code will go below that in curly brackets. A common mistake is loosing track of curly brackets, and having too many or not enough of a certain one will cause your code to execute improperly.

The foreach loop is a little smarter. it iterates over an array, meaning it runs enough times to access each value once. THe syntax looks like this. Foreach $array as $x {do this}

Loops are a simple concept that you will come in contact with all the time in PHP. THey are a vital cornerstone to your programming expertise.